Losing Streak May Continue For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,260-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautious ahead of key inflation data coming later this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the financials and properties were mitigated by support from the oil and resource companies.

For the day, the index slipped 8.21 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 3,260.62 after trading between 3,246.67 and 3,274.52. The Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 6.80 points or 0.33 percent to end at 2,051.03.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.64 percent, while Bank of China sank 0.78 percent, China Construction Bank fell 0.33 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.01 percent, Bank of Communications dropped 0.71 percent, China Life Insurance eased 0.13 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.20 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) climbed 1.11 percent, Yankuang Energy advanced 0.99 percent, PetroChina rallied 1.30 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.33 percent, Huaneng Power declined 0.88 percent, China Shenhua Energy increased 0.22 percent, Gemdale plummeted 3.27 percent, Poly Developments stumbled 1.15 percent and China Vanke slumped 1.02 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, made back some ground as the day progressed but still finished solidly in the red.

The Dow dropped 158.64 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 35,314.49, while the NASDAQ slumped 110.07 points or 0.79 percent to close at 13,884.32 and the S&P 500 sank 19.06 points or 0.42 percent to end at 4,499.38.

The soft start on Wall Street may have been in response to the downward revision in the ratings of ten smaller banks by Moody's.

The markets got a bit of a boost when the U.S. Energy Information Administration projected U.S. GDP growth to rise by 1.9% this year; it also forecast a bump in the price forecast for oil prices.

In economic news, the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to a three-month low of $65.5 billion in June, from a downwardly revised $68.3 billion in May. Also, the National Federation of Independent Business said the NFIB Small Business Optimism index rose for a third straight month in July.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Tuesday following an upgrade to this year's GDP growth projections in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $0.98 at $82.92 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see July figures for consumer and producer prices later this morning. Consumer prices are tipped to rise 0.1 percent on month and fall 0.4 percent on year after easing 0.2 percent on month and being flat on year in June. Producer prices are expected to decline an annual 4.1 percent after shedding 5.4 percent in the previous month.