China Shares Tipped To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Monday snapped the four-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 125 points or 3.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,310-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on hopes the Republican-manufactured U.S. debt ceiling situation can soon be resolved. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Monday following gains from the financial and insurance companies, weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index improved 38.38 points or 1.17 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,310.74 after moving as low as 3,235.87. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 23.76 points or 1.18 percent to end at 2,033.80.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications both climbed 1.20 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.48 percent, China Construction Bank strengthened 1.69 percent, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.94 percent, China Life Insurance skyrocketed 9.08 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 1.11 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) fell 0.35 percent, Yankuang Energy surged 4.11 percent, PetroChina shed 0.40 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.63 percent, Huaneng Power plummeted 5.58 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.03 percent, Gemdale improved 0.87 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.49 percent, China Fortune Land slumped 0.40 percent and China Vanke and China Minsheng Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages opened lower on Monday, stagnated for a bit and then finally crept up into positive territory.

The Dow added 47.98 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 33,348.60, while the NASDAQ jumped 80.47 points or 0.66 percent to close at 12,365.21 and the S&P 500 rose 12.20 points or 0.30 percent to end at 4,136.28.

The higher close on Wall Street may partly have reflected optimism about an eventual agreement on raising the U.S. debt following comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Yellen said the administration and congressional Republicans are making progress in their negotiations over federal spending and raising the debt limit.

In economic news, the New York Fed released a report this morning showing a strong downturn in regional manufacturing activity in May.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Monday, riding on prospects of lower supplies in Canada and elsewhere, while a weaker dollar also contributed to oil's uptick. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June gained $1.07 or 1.5 percent at $71.11 a barrel after three days of losses.

Closer to home, China is scheduled to release a raft of data later today, including April figures for industrial production, retail sales, fixed asset investment and unemployment.

Industrial production is expected to climb 10.1 percent on year, up from 3.9 percent in March. Retail sales are tipped to surge an annual 20.1 percent, accelerating from 10.6 percent in the previous month. FAI is seen higher by 5.2 percent on year, up from 5.1 percent a month earlier. The jobless rate is called steady at 5.3 percent.