The China stock market on Monday ended the three-day losing streak in which it had retreated more than 50 points or 1.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,425-point plateau although it's likely to head south again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian is soft, with technology stocks expected to lead the markets lower - although crude oil prices offer mild support. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were negative and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the resource stocks and oil companies, while the financials were mixed and the properties remained soft.
For the day, the index added 9.12 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 3,427.99 after trading between 3,401.93 and 3,429.74. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 4.25 points or 0.19 percent to end at 2,243.93.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.57 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.61 percent, China Construction Bank climbed 1.02 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.52 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.13 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged 9.92 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skyrocketed 10.10 percent, Yanzhou Coal spiked 3.29 percent, PetroChina accelerated 3.15 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 2.27 percent, China Shenhua Energy soared 4.75 percent, Gemdale tanked 2.63 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.22 percent, China Vanke tumbled 1.64 percent, China Fortune Land sank 1.89 percent and Beijing Capital slid 0.37 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but all ended up in the red as the session progressed.
The Dow fell 34.94 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,742.82, while the NASDAQ plummeted 350.38 points or 2.55 percent to end at 13,401.86 and the S&P 500 sank 44.17 points or 1.04 percent to close at 4,188.43.
The steep drop by the NASDAQ came amid weakness among technology stocks following negative analyst comments about several big-name companies including Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL), Facebook (FB) and Oracle (ORCL).
Concerns about the outlook for inflation may also have weighed on the markets amid an increase in commodities prices.
Crude oil futures were marginally higher Monday on news of the shutdown of critical fuel supply pipelines in the U.S. following a major cyberattack. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up $0.02 or 0.02 percent at $64.92 a barrel.
Closer to home, China will release April figures for consumer and producer prices later this morning. Consumer prices are tipped to fall 0.2 percent on month and rise 1.0 percent on year after slipping 0.5 percent on month and gaining 0.4 percent on year in March. Producer prices are expected to spike 6.6 percent on year, up from 4.4 percent in the previous month.
China also will see April figures for new yuan loans, which are expected to be worth CNY1.600 trillion - down from CNY2.730 trillion in March.
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