China Stock Market May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, retreating almost 50 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,240-point plateau and it's tipped to see continued consolidation on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and energy companies.

For the day, the index sank 24.71 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 3,238.70 after trading between 3,226.21 and 3,250.35. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 18.10 points or 0.84 percent to end at 2,145.19.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.23 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.31 percent, China Construction Bank eased 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank plunged 2.42 percent, China Life Insurance was down 0.06 percent, Jiangxi Copper dropped 0.99 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sank 0.93 percent, Yankuang Energy retreated 1.38 percent, PetroChina shed 0.39 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.45 percent, Huaneng Power declined 1.28 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.46 percent, Gemdale tanked 2.53 percent, Poly Developments surrendered 2.02 percent, China Vanke plummeted 3.84 percent, China Fortune Land declined 1.45 percent and Bank of Communications was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow shed 34.99 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 33,891.02, while the NASDAQ tumbled 119.50 points or 1.00 percent to end at 11,887.45 and the S&P 500 sank 25.40 points or 0.61 percent to close at 4,111.08.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates continued to weigh on Wall Street following last week's stronger than expected jobs data, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to speed up its pace for interest rate hikes.

Computer hardware stocks were under pressure, as were steel, housing, semiconductor and gold shares.

Oil prices climbed higher Monday on optimism energy demand from China will see a big jump after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly increased the prices of oil to be shipped to Asia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.72 or 1 percent at $74.11 a barrel.