China Stock Market May Test Support At 3,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The China stock market headed has tracked lower in two straight sessions, retreating more than 30 points or 1 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,030-point plateau and it's tipped to open under pressure again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower, ahead of key data and an OPEC meeting later this week. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the financials and properties were mitigated by support from the energy companies.

For the day, the index shed 9.27 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 3,031.70 after trading between 3,015.01 and 3,038.36. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 7.20 points or 0.38 percent to end at 1,893.39.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.42 percent, while China Construction Bank lost 0.62 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 2.00 percent, Bank of Communications eased 0.17 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.04 percent, Jiangxi Copper slid 0.45 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) dropped 0.88 percent, Yankuang Energy jumped 1.94 percent, PetroChina perked 0.14 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 0.73 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 1.49 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.64 percent, Gemdale plummeted 4.38 percent, Poly Developments stumbled 2.50 percent, China Vanke plunged 2.64 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, improved midday but then stumbled into the close.

The Dow dropped 56.68 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 35,333.47, while the NASDAQ eased 9.83 points or 0.07 percent to close at 14,241.02 and the S&P 500 fell 8.91 points or 0.20 percent to end at 4,550.43.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days.

Traders also were looking for additional clues about the outlook for interest rates, with optimism the Fed is done raising rates contributing to recent strength on Wall Street.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said new home sales in U.S. pulled back sharply in October after surging in September.

Crude Oil prices fell on Monday with traders speculating on the likely outcome of Thursday's OPEC meeting to discuss production cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January fell $0.68 or 0.9 percent at $74.86 a barrel.