The China stock market has moved lower in two of three trading day since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 1.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just shy of the 3,570-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is mixed and little changed thanks to conflicting earnings data and a mild drop in crude oil prices. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the resource stocks and insurance companies, while the financials and properties were mixed.
For the day, the index retreated 54.81 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 3,569.43 after trading between 3,564.74 and 3,610.97. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 48.69 points or 1.98 percent to end at 2,414.16.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.40 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.91 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.36 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.61 percent, Jiangxi Copper plummeted 6.82 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surrendered 2.59 percent, Yanzhou Coal rose 0.11 percent, PetroChina gained 0.24 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.25 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 1.15 percent, Gemdale fell 0.34 percent, Poly Developments slid 0.21 percent, China Vanke climbed 1.16 percent and Bank of China and China Minsheng Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks showed a lack of direction on Tuesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending slightly in the red.
The Dow fell 22.96 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 30,937.04, while the NASDAQ eased 9.93 points or 0.07 percent to end at 13,626.06 and the S&P 500 shed 5.74 points or 0.15 percent to close at 3,849.62.
The choppy trading on Wall Street partly reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets after the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 climbed to new record closing highs on Monday.
Optimism about additional stimulus under President Joe Biden has helped drive stocks higher in recent sessions, although reports have pointed to intensifying opposition from GOP lawmakers.
The lackluster performance also reflected a mixed reaction to earnings news from a number of big-name companies as 3M (MMM) and Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) moved higher beating the street - while fellow Dow components American Express (AXP) and Verizon (VZ) moved to the downside.
Crude oil futures settled lower on Tuesday, as traders were leery of the uncertain outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.16 or 0.3 percent at $52.61 a barrel.
Closer to home, China will release December figures for industrial profits later today; in November, profits were up 2.4 percent on year.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
