Losing Streak Likely To Continue For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slumping more than 50 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,310-point plateau and it's poised to extend its losses on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of quarterly earnings and on renewed pandemic concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the properties, resource stocks and energy producers, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index retreated 42.49 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 3,313.58 after trading between 3,297.00 and 3,341.10.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.42 percent, while Bank of China added 0.61 percent, China Construction Bank climbed 1.05 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.93 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.20 percent, China Minsheng Bank gained 0.54 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.73 percent, Jiangxi Copper tanked 2.37 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 2.14 percent, Yankuang Energy plunged 3.37 percent, PetroChina skidded 1.16 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.50 percent, China Shenhua Energy plummeted 6.18 percent, Gemdale declined 1.42 percent, Poly Developments stumbled 2.03 percent, China Vanke retreated 1.56 percent, Beijing Capital Development surrendered 1.70 percent, China Fortune Land slumped 0.96 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened firmly lower on Monday and largely remained that way throughout the session.

The Dow sank 164.31 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 31.173.84, while the NASDAQ plummeted 262.71 points or 2.26 percent to finish at 11,372.60 and the S&P 500 dropped 44.95 points or 1.15 percent to end at 3,854.43.

Renewed Covid concerns contributed to the weakness on Wall Street as Shanghai reported its first case of the highly infectious BA.5 omicron sub-variant, raising fears of more lockdowns.

Macau also closed all its casinos for the first time in over two years on Monday after a coronavirus outbreak in the world's biggest gambling hub.

Light trading activity may have exaggerated the downward move, as some traders stuck to the sidelines amid a lack of major U.S. economic data and corporate earnings.

Crude oil prices slipped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid a surge in coronavirus cases in China, while the dollar's jump amid expectations of sharp interest rate hikes also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.70 or 0.7 percent at $104.90 a barrel.