China Stock Market May Extend Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, the China stock market had ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 40 points or 1.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,050-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat with a touch of upside ahead of the FOMC statement on Wednesday. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to inch higher.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financial shares and properties were capped by weakness from the energy companies.

For the day, the index perked 2.49 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 3,051.28 after trading between 3,031.04 and 3,065.02. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.64 points or 0.10 percent to end at 1,679.31.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.10 percent, while Bank of China jumped 1.80 percent, China Construction Bank collected 1.55 percent, China Merchants Bank eased 0.03 percent, Bank of Communications spiked 2.51 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.70 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.16 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) fell 0.25 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.17 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.63 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 1.40 percent, China Shenhua Energy dipped 0.02 percent, Gemdale advanced 0.97 percent, Poly Developments improved 1.26 percent, China Vanke accelerated 1.87 percent and PetroChina was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Monday before gradually climbing up into positive territory.

The Dow gained 69.05 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 38,868.04, while the NASDAQ added 51.90 points or 0.35 percent to close at 17,192.53 and the S&P 500 rose 13/80 points or 0.26 percent to end at 5,360.79.

Traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of several key events later this week, including the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting.

The Fed is due to announce its latest monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when the central bank is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged.

Since the decision is largely seen as a foregone conclusion, traders are likely to pay closer attention to Fed officials' latest projections for the economy and rates.

Ahead of the Fed announcement, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on consumer price inflation in the month of May.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.21 or about 2.9 percent at $77.74 a barrel.