(RTTNews) – The China stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, surrendering almost 50 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,340-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on easing tariff and trade war concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday following weakness from the resource stocks, gains from the properties and a mixed picture from the financial sector.
For the day, the index fell 6.15 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 3,340.69 after trading between 3,332.49 and 3,351.57. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 5.65 points or 0.29 percent to end at 1,971.03.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China perked 0.14 percent, while Bank of China advanced 0.91 percent, Agricultural Bank of China collected 0.55 percent, China Merchants Bank was down 0.14 percent, Jiangxi Copper tanked 2.56 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.82 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.16 percent, PetroChina eased 0.24 percent, Huaneng Power dipped 0.27 percent, China Shenhua Energy fell 0.28 percent, Gemdale gained 0.51 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.37 percent, China Vanke added 0.60 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Bank of Communications were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened in the green and continued to accelerate as the day progressed.
The Dow spiked 740.58 points or 1.78 percent to finish at 42,343.65, while the NASDAQ surged 461.96 points or 2.47 percent to close at 19,199.16 and the S&P 500 jumped 118.72 points or 2.05 percent to end at 5,921.54.
The rally on Wall Street came after President Donald Trump announced he is delaying a threatened 50 percent tariff on imports from the European Union.
The move by Trump came as analysts previously suggested the threatened tariff on the EU was just a negotiating tactic and not where the eventual rate will wind up.
Positive sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report released by the Conference Board showing a substantial improvement by U.S. consumer confidence in the month of May.
Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday on continuing concerns that OPEC may boost output at its meeting later today. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery dropped 0.65 or 1 percent to $64.09 per barrel.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
