The China stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after it had ended the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 45 points or 1.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,600-point plateau although it's likely to hand back those gains on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on tumbling crude oil prices and concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were firmly lower and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Monday following gains from the financials, properties and oil companies.
For the day, the index collected 4.23 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 2,597.97 after trading between 2,573.87 and 2,598.97. The Shenzhen Composite Index slid 4.11 points or 0.31 percent to end at 1,323.31.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.37 percent, while China Merchants Bank eased 0.14 percent, Bank of China collected 0.84 percent, China Construction Bank perked 0.76 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.27 percent, Ping An Insurance skidded 1.08 percent, PetroChina picked up 0.39 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) jumped 1.36 percent, China Shenhua Energy rose 0.67 percent, Gemdale advanced 1.21 percent, China Vanke was up 0.23 percent and Poly Developments was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks showed wild swings on Monday before ending substantially lower. The Dow fell to its lowest closing level in eight months, while the NASDAQ and the S&P fell to their lowest closing levels in over a year.
The Dow shed 507.53 points or 2.11 percent to 23,592.98, while the NASDAQ lost 156.93 points or 2.27 percent to 6,753.93 and the S&P 500 fell 54.01 points or 2.08 percent to 2,545.94.
The sharply lower close on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about global economic growth and continued uncertainty about trade between the U.S. and China. Traders were also on edge ahead of Wednesday's highly anticipated monetary policy announcement from the Federal Reserve.
The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another quarter point, although traders will scrutinize the central bank's statement and forecasts for clues about future rate hikes.
Economic news also disappointed as the National Association of Home Builders noted continued deterioration in confidence in December. Also, the New York Federal Reserve saw a bigger than expected slowdown in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in December.
Crude oil futures tumbled to a 14-month low on Monday on demand growth concerns. Crude oil futures for January ended down $1.32 or 2.6 percent at $49.88 a barrel, the lowest settlement since October 2017.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
Market Analysis