Little Movement Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) – The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, adding almost 25 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just shy of the 3,625-point plateau and it’s expected to remain in that neighborhood again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets roughly flat, with optimism for economic recovery offset by inflation concerns. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Tuesday as gains from the oil and resource stocks were capped by weakness from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index gained 9.24 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 3,624.71 after trading between 3,581.91 and 3,626.07. The Shenzhen Composite Index improved 9.82 points or 0.41 percent to end at 2,429.57.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.58 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.30 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 1.01 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.43 percent, Bank of Communications lost 0.61 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 3.19 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.19 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) spiked 2.68 percent, Yanzhou Coal soared 4.14 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.95 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.13 percent, Baoshan Iron advanced 0.89 percent, Gemdale eased 0.19 percent, Poly Developments declined 1.18 percent, China Vanke fell 0.37 percent and China Fortune Land sank 0.92 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks opened higher on Tuesday but quickly faded, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 45.86 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 34,575.31, while the NASDAQ fell 12.26 points or 0.09 percent to end at 13,736.48 and the S&) 500 eased 2.07 points or 0.05 percent to close at 4,202.04.

The initial strength on Wall Street came as upbeat manufacturing data from overseas added to optimism about the outlook for the global economy. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said manufacturing activity in the U.S. expanded at a slightly faster pace in May.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders continued to express uncertainty about inflation and the outlook for monetary policy.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report on Friday.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday amid optimism for a strong global economic recovery and increased demand following a drop in fresh coronavirus cases and an acceleration in the vaccination drive. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July jumped $1.40 or 2.1 percent at $67.72 a barrel, the highest since October 2018.