(RTTNews) – The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 55 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,250-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat, with support from the energy stocks likely offset by weakness from the technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the oil companies were mitigated by support from the financials and properties.
For the day, the index retreated 19.59 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 3,250.39 after trading between 3,243.03 and 3,273.18. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 20.06 points or 0.92 percent to end at 2,165.36.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.68 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.32 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank improved 0.73 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.43 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 0.14 percent, Jiangxi Copper tumbled 1.72 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 1.77 percent, Yankuang Energy gathered 0.66 percent, PetroChina eased 0.19 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.24 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 3.88 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.92 percent, Gemdale surged 3.55 percent, Poly Developments soared 3.01 percent, China Vanke picked up 0.69 percent, China Fortune Land strengthened 1.74 percent and Beijing Capital Development was up 0.46 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened flat on Monday and then bounced up and down throughout the session before finishing mixed.
The Dow climbed 90.75 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 31,990.04, while the NASDAQ lost 51.45 points or 0.43 percent to close at 11,782.67 and the S&P 500 rose 5.14 points or 0.13 percent to end at 3,966.77.
Trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday.
CME Group’s FedWatch tool is currently indicating a 77.5 percent chance of a 75-basis point interest rate hike and a 22.5 percent chance of a 100-basis point rate hike.
Crude oil futures settled sharply higher on Monday as concerns about outlook for energy demand eased, while the dollar’s weakness ahead of the upcoming Fed statement also supported crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $2.00 or 2.1 percent at $96.70 a barrel.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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