The China stock market turned lower again on Tuesday, one session after halting the two-day losing streak in which it had retreated almost 60 points or 2/7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,530-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to sinking oil prices and expected profit taking. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday as losses from the broader market were mitigated by support from the financial shares and property stocks.
For the day, the index dipped 4.06 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 3,530.26 after trading between 3,496.93 and 3,538.35. The Shenzhen Composite Index slid 7.81 points or 0.32 percent to end at 2,406.59.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.41 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.32 percent, China Construction Bank gained 0.75 percent, China Merchants Bank climbed 1.13 percent, Bank of Communications added 0.61 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 2.94 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 0.99 percent, Yanzhou Coal shed 0.60 percent, PetroChina improved 1.16 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.47 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.20 percent, Gemdale surged 4.02 percent, Poly Developments soared 3.62 percent, China Vanke spiked 2.77 percent, China Fortune Land accelerated 4.69 percent and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) and China Minsheng Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the Dow and S&P 500 both opened lower Tuesday and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ was in and out of negative territory but finally finished slightly higher.
The Dow sank 208.98 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 34,577.37, while the NASDAQ added 24.32 points or 0.17 percent to end at 14,663.64 and the S&P fell 8.80 points or 0.20 percent to close at 4,343.54.
The pullback by the Dow and the S&P 500 was partly due to profit taking after the advance seen last Friday lifted all three major averages to new record closing highs.
Optimism about the economic outlook helped support the markets, although traders remain somewhat concerned about the outlook for monetary policy.
Negative sentiment may also have been generated by a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing its reading on service sector activity pulled back off a record high in June.
Crude oil futures settled sharply lower Tuesday as prices plunged after hitting a near seven-year high amid uncertainty about the major oil producers' production policy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $1.79 or 2.4 percent at $73.37 a barrel.
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