Mild Upside Seen For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 120 points or 3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,910-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak thanks to renewed hostilities in the Middle East and weakness among the technology companies. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead. The SCI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies. For the day, the index plunged 82.37 points or 2.06 percent to finish at 3,913.79 after trading between 3,900.67 and 3,983.05. The Shenzhen Composite Index crashed 107.40 points or 4.01 percent to end at 2,568.09.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower and remained under water for the balance of the session, ending near daily lows.

The Dow dropped 138.37 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 52,498.64, while the NASDAQ plummeted 408.43 points or 1.55 percent to close at 25,873.18 and the S&P 500 sank 59.92 points or 0.79 percent to end at 7,515.47.

The weakness on Wall Street followed a sharp increase by the price of crude oil amid the continued exchange of attacks between the U.S. and Iran.

U.S. Central Command said it completed a new wave of offensive strikes against Iran on Sunday, hitting dozens of targets at multiple locations with precision munitions.

Tehran responded by attacking Gulf Arab states, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Oman, further straining the fragile ceasefire between the two countries.

As a result, crude oil prices skyrocketed on Monday amid intense attacks between the U.S. and Iran over the weekend, renewing Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $6.87 or 9.62 percent at $78.28 per barrel. Closer to home, China will release June figures for imports, exports, trade balance and new loans later this morning. Imports are expected to rise 24.0 percent on year, down from 27.4 percent in May. Exports are called higher by an annual 18.2 percent, easing from 19.4 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $121.40 billion, up from $105.43billion a month earlier. New loans are expected to be worth CNY1.950 trillion, up sharply from CNY520.0 billion in May.