Rally May Stall For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 75 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,235-point plateau although it's looking at a slightly soft start on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to slightly higher, with easing recession fears offset by interest rate concerns. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the resource and energy companies, weakness from the financials and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index picked up 9.91 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 3,236.93 after trading between 3,214.08 and 3,237.97. The Shenzhen Composite Index advanced 17.21 points or 0.79 percent to close at 2,183.22.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.91 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank shed 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.14 percent, Bank of Communications lost 0.43 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.27 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 0.77 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rose 0.22 percent, Yankuang Energy skyrocketed 7.73 percent, PetroChina perked 0.20 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.49 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 2.16 percent, China Shenhua Energy spiked 2.20 percent, Gemdale stumbled 1.44 percent, Poly Developments slumped 1.63 percent, China Vanke sank 1.15 percent, China Fortune Land surged 2.83 percent and Beijing Capital Development improved 1.39 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages were unable to hold solid early gains, eventually hugging the line and finishing mixed.

The Dow rose 29.07 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 32,832.54, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.10 points or 0.10 percent to end at 12,644.46 and the S&P 500 eased 5.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 4,140.06.

The early strength on Wall Street extended a recent upward trend; easing concerns about a potential recession may have contributed to the continued upward move following last week's much stronger than expected jobs data.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as the strong jobs data has increased the likelihood of another 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve next month.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant bets ahead of the release of closely watched U.S. inflation data later this week.

Crude oil prices recovered after early losses and settled sharply higher on Monday as data showed a significant increase in oil purchases by China so far this month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $90.76 a barrel.