Losing Streak May End For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, rising almost 30 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,230-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking anticipated. The European and U.S. markets finished under water and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Monday as gains from the financials and oil companies were capped by weakness from the property sector. For the day, the index perked 2.37 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 3,232,44 after trading between 3,221.63 and 3,244.18.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China strengthened 1.64 percent, while Bank of China rallied 2.31 percent, China Construction Bank spiked 2.37 percent, China Merchants Bank dipped 0.09 percent, Bank of Communications collected 1.03 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.80 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 2.83 percent, Yankuang Energy advanced 0.94 percent, PetroChina improved 0.92 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.23 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.10 percent, China Shenhua Energy increased 1.06 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.45 percent, Poly Developments fell 0.44 percent, China Vanke slumped 1.10 percent, China Fortune Land lost 0.43 percent and Jiangxi Copper and Beijing capital Development were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Monday, but a late slump sent them all into the red the close.

The Dow tumbled 199.90 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 33,562.86, while the NASDAQ slipped 11.34 points or 0.09 percent to close at 13,229.43 and the S&P 500 fell 8.58 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4,273.79.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as some traders looked to take a break after the passage of legislation raising the U.S. debt ceiling and the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report.

Trading activity may remain somewhat subdued this week as traders look ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting; the Fed is widely expected to pause its recent series of interest rate hikes.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said service sector activity in the U.S. saw only modest growth last month, with the index of activity in the sector falling by more than expected. Also, the Commerce Department said new orders for U.S. manufactured goods increased less than expected in April.

Crude oil prices settled higher Monday after Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, pledged to cut its production by another 1 million barrels per day in July. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $0.41 or 0.6 percent at $72.15 a barrel, off the intra-day high of $75.06.