Soft Start Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 100 points or 3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,270-point plateau although it may open under pressure on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative with profit taking likely for many of the regions. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead. The SCI finished slightly higher on Monday following mixed performances from the property stocks and resource companies, while the financials and oil companies were down. For the day, the index rose 6.55 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 3,268.11 after trading between 3,239.10 and 3,300.66. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 30.10 points or 1.58 percent to end at 1,936.97. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tanked 2.53 percent, while Bank of China declined 1.98 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 1.93 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.51 percent, Agricultural Bank of China stumbled 2.42 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.21 percent, Jiangxi Copper jumped 1.90 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.46 percent, Yankuang Energy strengthened 1.83 percent, PetroChina sank 0.94 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.30 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.57 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.57 percent, Gemdale soared 2.43 percent, Poly Developments spiked 2.77 percent and China Vanke tumbled 1.92 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed to soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday and largely stayed that way, although the NASDAQ broke into the green late in the day.

The Dow stumbled 344.25 points or 0.80 percent to finish at 42,931.25, while the NASDAQ gained 50.45 points or 0.27 percent to close at 18,540.01 and the S&P 500 fell 10.69 points or 0.18 percent to end at 5,853.98.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as profit taking brought the Dow down from a record closing high, while tech shares boosted the NASDAQ to a three-month closing high.

Overall trading activity was relatively subdued as traders looked ahead to the release of a slew of corporate earnings news from big-name companies later this week.

In economic news, the Conference Board said its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell by more than expected in the month of September.

Oil prices moved higher on Monday on possible disruptions in supplies due to escalating tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up by $1.34 or 1.94 percent at $70.56 a barrel.