Higher Open Called For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, the China stock market had turned lower again on Friday, one day after snapping the five-day losing streak in which it had surrendered almost 50 points or 1.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,350-point plateau although it may see mild upside on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, resource stocks and properties.

For the day, the index shed 15.96 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 3,347.49 after trading between 3,341.65 and 3,361.28. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 21.18 points or 1.06 percent to end at 1,971.86.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China improved 0.43 percent, while Bank of China gained 0.18 percent, Agricultural Bank of China added 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank eased 0.09 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.80 percent, China Life Insurance declined 0.55 percent, Jiangxi Copper sank 0.89 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) dropped 0.91 percent, Yankuang Energy lost 0.62 percent, PetroChina fell 0.24 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.87 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.14 percent, China Shenhua Energy shed 0.58 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.79 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.25 percent and China Vanke dropped 0.90 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mildly positive as the major averages spent most of Monday in the red before a late rally nudged them over the unchanged line.

The Dow added 35.41 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 42,305.48, while the NASDAQ gained 128.85 points or 0.67 percent to close at 19,242.61 and the S&P 500 rose 24.25 points or 0.41 percent to end at 5,935.94.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed trade concerns amid further signs of rising tensions between the U.S. and China.

China on Monday pushed back against President Donald Trump's claims that it had broken the Geneva trade agreement, accusing the U.S. of violating the deal with increased tech export restrictions and the revocation of Chinese student visas.

However, selling pressure waned following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing U.S. manufacturing activity unexpectedly weakened in May. The report generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates amid signs of U.S. economic weakness due to Trump's trade war.

Crude oil futures moved sharply higher on Monday, amid escalating geopolitical tensions and reports of more U.S. sanctions on Moscow. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery shot up $1.73 or 2.9 percent to $62.52 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see May results for the manufacturing PMI from Caixin later this morning; in April, the index score was 50.4.