China Shares Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 10 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,145-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopeful signs for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the financials and oil companies were offset by support from the property sector.

For the day, the index eased 2.25 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 3,145.77 after trading between 3,137.61 and 3,155.81. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 6.20 points or 0.35 percent to end at 1,773.00.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.74 percent, while Bank of China dropped 0.98 percent, China Construction Bank shed 0.71 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.59 percent, Bank of Communications lost 0.86 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 1.30 percent, Jiangxi Copper spiked 2.10 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.51 percent, Yankuang Energy plunged 2.68 percent, PetroChina slumped 0.90 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dipped 0.31 percent, Huaneng Power rose 0.32 percent, China Shenhua Energy stumbled 1.25 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.55 percent, Poly Developments gained 0.42 percent and China Vanke improved 0.54 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages spent most of Tuesday hugging the unchanged line before a late push bumped them firmly into the green.

The Dow climbed 126.60 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 39,558.11, while the NASDAQ rallied 122.94 points or 0.75 percent to close at 16,511.18 and the S&P 500 added 25.26 points or 0.48 percent to end at 5,246.68.

The higher close on Wall Street came as treasury yields moved to the downside after an early advance, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note falling to its lowest closing level in over a month.

Treasury yields initially moved higher following the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in the month of April.

However, while the report initially generated renewed uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates, some economists pointed to the downward revisions to the March data as a positive sign.

Oil futures settled lower Tuesday as data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices raised concerns that Federal Reserve will keep interest rates higher for a longer period. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $1.10 or about 1.4 percent at $78.02 a barrel.