China Shares May Halt Losing Streak On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, stumbling almost 80 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits right on the 2,950-point plateau although it's overdue for support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is a mixed bag, with weakness among the financials and oil companies likely countered by support from the technology shares. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the oil and insurance companies were offset by support from the financial shares and properties.

For the day, the index lost 13.10 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 2,950.00 after trading between 2,935.54 and 2,971.65. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 7.46 points or 0.46 percent to end at 1,609.03.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.54 percent, while Bank of China gained 0.67 percent, China Construction Bank increased 0.41 percent, China Merchants Bank improved 0.68 percent, Bank of Communications perked 0.14 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.44 percent, Jiangxi Copper rallied 1.31 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) accelerated 1.89 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.31 percent, PetroChina rose 0.20 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.33 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 0.72 percent, Gemdale spiked 2.05 percent, Poly Developments climbed 1.19 percent, China Vanke jumped 1.72 percent and Huaneng Power was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains divergent as the major averages opened mixed and finished the same way.

The Dow tumbled 299.05 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 39,112.16, while the NASDAQ rallied 220.84 points or 1.26 percent to close at 17,717.65 and the S&P 500 gained 21.43 points or 0.39 percent to end at 5,469.30.

The session-long strength in the tech-heavy NASDAQ was fueled by a rebound of Nvidia stocks after recent losses. Meta Platforms, Alphabet, Apple Inc., Eli Lilly, Micron Technology also posted strong gains.

Boeing, Nike, Goldman Sachs, IBM, Pfizer, McDonalds Corporation, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Home Depot and Johnson & Johnson declined sharply, weighing on the Dow.

In economic news, the Chicago Fed National Activity Index, which measures overall economic activity and inflationary pressure, rose in May for the first time in three months. Also, the Conference Board said consumer confidence in the U.S. eased slightly in June.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday as traders booked some profits ahead of crucial U.S. inflation data due later in the week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.80 or nearly 1 percent at $80.83 a barrel.