BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, advancing almost 100 points or 3.1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,530-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on sliding crude oil prices and concern over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat, while the U.S. bourses were down - and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the properties and resource stocks, while the financials were mixed.
For the day, the index gained 11.40 points or 0.32 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,529.01 after trading as low as 3,510.86. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 3.94 points or 0.17 percent to end at 2,324.27.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China eased 0.19 percent, while China Construction Bank fell 0.29 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.54 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.13 percent, Jiangxi Copper jumped 1.81 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) gathered 1.49 percent, Yanzhou Coal soared 3.92 percent, PetroChina surged 4.51 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 2.49 percent, Anhui Conch Cement sank 0.85 percent, Baoshan Iron advanced 0.87 percent, Gemdale improved 1.44 percent, Poly Developments perked 0.44 percent, China Vanke gained 0.63 percent, China Fortune Land rose 2.33 percent, Beijing Capital Development was up 0.71 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened mixed on Tuesday but accelerated into the red as the day progressed.
The Dow shed 267.13 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 34,060.66, while the NASDAQ lost 75.41 points or 0.56 percent to end at 13,303.64 and the S&P 500 fell 35.46 points or 0.85 percent to close at 4,127.83.
The soft finish from Wall Street indicated concerns ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's April monetary policy meeting later today, which may provide clues for plans of monetary tightening.
Strong earnings announcements from Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD) helped keep the undertone positive early on in the session, but the mood turned cautious as the day progressed and stocks started paring gains on selling pressure.
In economic news, the Commerce Department showed housing starts in the U.S. tumbled in April, while a separate report showed that building permits rose roughly as expected.
Crude oil futures settled lower Tuesday, weighed down by signs of progress in the Iran nuclear talks. Traders were also weighing global energy demand prospects amid the continued surge in coronavirus cases in Asian countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $0.78 or 1.2 percent at $65.49 a barrel.
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