China Stock Market Due For Support On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, plunging more than 100 points or 3 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,470-point plateau although it's may see bargain hunting on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with little movement expected among ongoing Covid-19 concerns. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Monday following heavy damage among the financials, properties and insurance companies.

For the day, the index dropped 82.96 points or 2.34 percent to finish at 3,467.44 after trading between 3,424.74 and 3,538.01. The Shenzhen Composite tanked 56.33 points or 2.28 percent to end at 2,411.81. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.64 percent, while China Construction Bank dropped 1.01 percent, China Merchants Bank plunged 4.70 percent, Bank of Communications skidded 1.36 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 5.61 percent, Ping An Insurance plummeted 5.45 percent, Jiangxi Copper jumped 2.44 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.43 percent, Yanzhou Coal fell 0.35 percent, PetroChina tumbled 1.70 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.49 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 2.81 percent, Gemdale cratered 6.09 percent and Poly Developments sank 6.64 percent. The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages shook off a soft open on Monday, climbing gradually throughout the day to finish at fresh record closing highs.

The Dow gained 82.76 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 35,144.31, while the NASDAQ rose 3.72 points or 0.03 percent to end at 16,565.31 and the S&P 500 added 10.51 points or 0.24 percent to close at 4,422.30.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as upbeat earnings news warred with concerns about the spread of new coronavirus variants.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay close attention to any comments regarding its asset purchase program.

In economic news, the Commerce Department showed another steep drop in new home sales in June.

Crude oil futures settled lower Monday amid worries about the outlook for energy demand due to the rapidly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus in several countries around the world. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down by $0.16 or 0.2 percent at $71.91 a barrel after four straight days of gains. Closer to home, China will see June figures for industrial profits later today; in May, profits were up 83.4 percent on year.