Little Movement Seen For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had slipped more than 25 points or 0.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 4,085-point plateau and it figures to hold steady in that neighborhood on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is unclear amid uncertainties surrounding the conflict in the Middle East. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The SCI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the oil companies, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the property sector. For the day, the index rose 6.44 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 4,086.34 after trading between 4,071.08 and 4,092.83. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 13.63 points or 0.50 percent to end at 2,756.68. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China declined 0.92 percent, while Bank of China and Bank of Communications both dropped 0.86 percent, Agricultural Bank of China tumbled 1.70 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.30 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sank 0.75 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.58 percent, PetroChina rose 0.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) soared 6.01 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.43 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 0.87 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.13 percent, Poly Developments improved 0.70 percent, China Vanke lost 0.53 percent and China Merchants Bank and Jiangxi Copper were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Monday and hugged the line throughout the session before ending on oppositive sides.

The Dow sank 62.92 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 49,167.79, while the NASDAQ climbed 50.50 points or 0.20 percent to close at 24,887.10 and the S&P 500 rose 8.83 points or 0.12 percent to end at 7,173.91.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves amid a lack of clarity about the situation in the Middle East after U.S.-Iran peace talks stalled over the weekend.

Traders are also likely to keep an eye on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision scheduled for Wednesday. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, the central bank's accompanying statement may provide clues about the outlook for rates.

Crude oil prices soared on Monday after the proposed U.S.-Iran negotiations were called off by the U.S. as supply disruption concerns continue. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $2.32 or 2.46 percent at $96.72 per barrel.