China Stock Market May Reclaim 3,100-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, shedding almost 40 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,075-point plateau although it's due for support on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside ahead of key data later in the week, although slumping oil prices may cap the upside. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are likely to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index slipped 8.32 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,078.49 after trading between 3,061.28 and 3,097.20. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 10.54 points or 0.61 percent to end at 1,719.12.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China perked 0.18 percent, while China Construction Bank rose 0.28 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.38 percent, Bank of Communications added 0.57 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.73 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.26 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.44 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.11 percent, PetroChina was up 0.20 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 0.78 percent, Huaneng Power gained 0.45 percent, China Shenhua Energy spiked 2.39 percent, Gemdale plunged 3.31 percent, Poly Developments gathered 0.20 percent, China Vanke tumbled 1.94 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Monday but quickly turned lower and spent most of the day in the red before a late push saw them end mixed and little changed.

The Dow slumped 115.29 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 38,571.03, while the NASDAQ added 93.65 points or 0.56 percent to close at 16,828.67 and the S&P 500 rose 5.89 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,283.40.

Investors locked in recent gains in the first half of the day, consolidating positions ahead of key data later in the week. Late bargain hunting boosted the averages going into the close.

In U.S. economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said that manufacturing activity in the U.S. unexpectedly contracted at a slightly faster rate in May. Also, the U.S. Census Bureau said U.S. construction spending unexpectedly shrunk in April.

Oil prices fell to a four-month low on Monday after OPEC said it will begin phasing out voluntary production cuts over the next year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended down by $2.77 or about 3.6 percent at $74.22 a barrel.