The China stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 75 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,410-point plateau and it may find additional strength again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on Covid-19 vaccine optimism. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were higher and the Asian markets figure to at least open in the green, although some profit taking may occur as the session progresses.
The SCI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the resource stocks, financial shares and property stocks.
For the day, the index advanced 36.76 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 3,414.49 after trading between 3,377.99 and 3,431.65. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 12.45 points or 0.54 percent to end at 2,301.96.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China advanced 0.80 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.62 percent, China Construction Bank rallied 2.13 percent, China Merchants Bank gained 0.78 percent, Bank of Communications added 0.87 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.31 percent, Ping An Insurance climbed 1.99 percent, Jiangxi Copper accelerated 6.26 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 6.91 percent, Yanzhou Coal skyrocketed 9.96 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.65 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) spiked 2.69 percent, Huaneng Power perked 1.35 percent, China Shenhua Energy soared 3.67 percent, Gemdale improved 0.54 percent, China Vanke gathered 0.55 percent and Poly Developments was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as stocks opened higher on Monday and remained mostly in the green throughout the day, offsetting losses from the previous session.
The Dow soared 327.79 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 29,591.27, while the NASDAQ added 25.66 points or 0.22 percent to end at 11,880.63 and the S&P 500 rose 20.05 points or 0.56 percent to close at 3,577.59.
The strength on Wall followed additional upbeat news regarding a potential Covid-19 vaccine after AstraZeneca (AZN) said its vaccine candidate being developed in collaboration with Oxford University had an average efficacy of 70 percent.
Adding to the positive sentiment, the FDA has granted an emergency use authorization for Regeneron's Covid-19 antibody treatment.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday on optimism that OPEC and other oil producers may extend the curb on crude production by another few months. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended up $0.64 or 1.5 percent at $43.06 a barrel.
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