China Shares Tipped To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, retreating more than 75 points or 2.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 2,920-point plateau although it's due for support on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher on uncertainty over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the resource stocks and properties were mitigated by support from the financial shares.

For the day, the index dropped 27.48 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 2,922.45 after trading between 2,917.23 and 2,947.61. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 29.91 points or 1.88 percent to end at 1,560.97.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.03 percent, while Bank of China collected 1.30 percent, China Construction Bank strengthened 1.32 percent, China Merchants Bank rose 0.32 percent, Bank of Communications rallied 1.45 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 0.90 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.66 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.65 percent, Yankuang Energy plunged 2.50 percent, PetroChina increased 1.23 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 1.09 percent, Huaneng Power improved 0.93 percent, China Shenhua Energy jumped 1.26 percent, Gemdale plummeted 5.23 percent, Poly Developments tumbled 2.84 percent and China Vanke slumped 3.05 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Monday but quickly faded and spent the rest of the day bouncing back and forth across the line before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 31.08 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 39,344.79, while the NASDAQ added 50.98 points or 0.28 percent to close at a record 18,403.74 and the S&P rose 5.66 points or 0.10 percent to end at 5,572.85 - also a record.

The inconsistency on Wall Street reflected uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of several key economic events this week, including reports on consumer and producer prices.

Traders are also likely to pay close attention to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony this week, looking for clues about the interest rate outlook.

Oil prices fell on Monday after Hurricane Beryl forced the shutdown of some oil export facilities near Houston. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.83 or 1 percent at $82.33 a barrel.