The China stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 70 points or 2.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,110-point plateau and it\'s expected to see little movement on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of the next round of economic data, and skepticism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday as losses from the financial shares and property stocks were mitigated by support from the resource companies.
For the day, the index lost 14.47 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 3,109.57 after trading between 3,106.36 and 3,130.31. The Shenzhen Composite Index stumbled 18.91 points or 1.08 percent to end at 1,728.93.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China perked 0.18 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.67 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.88 percent, Bank of Communications eased 0.14 percent, China Life Insurance was down 0.03 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.19 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 1.50 percent, Yankuang Energy gathered 0.20 percent, PetroChina strengthened 1.46 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 1.23 percent, Huaneng Power slid 0.11 percent, China Shenhua Energy spiked 2.14 percent, Gemdale plummeted 7.29 percent, Poly Developments surrendered 1.89 percent, China Vanke plunged 3.95 percent and China Construction Bank was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday finished the same way.
The Dow shed 216.73 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 38,852.86, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.09 points or 0.59 percent to close at a record 17,019.88 and the S&P 500 perked 1.32 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,306.04.
The continued advance by the NASDAQ came on a sharp increase by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling surging 7.1 percent to a record closing high.
Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Merck (MRK) weighed on the Dow, as the drug giant tumbled by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board noted an unexpectedly significant improvement in consumer confidence in May.
Oil prices rose Tuesday on hopes demand for oil will pick up in the U.S. driving season, and on expectations that OPEC will extend its production cuts into the next quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.11 or 2.7 percent at $79.83 a barrel.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday finished the same way.
The Dow shed 216.73 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 38,852.86, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.09 points or 0.59 percent to close at a record 17,019.88 and the S&P 500 perked 1.32 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,306.04.
The continued advance by the NASDAQ came on a sharp increase by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling surging 7.1 percent to a record closing high.
Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Merck (MRK) weighed on the Dow, as the drug giant tumbled by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.
In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board noted an unexpectedly significant improvement in consumer confidence in May.
Oil prices rose Tuesday on hopes demand for oil will pick up in the U.S. driving season, and on expectations that OPEC will extend its production cuts into the next quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.11 or 2.7 percent at $79.83 a barrel.