China Stock Market Tipped To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in four straight trading days, slipping more than 70 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,050-point plateau and it's likely to see continued consolidation on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets continues to be soft on concerns about interest rates and the global economy. The European and U.S. markets were down again and the Asian markets, despite being badly oversold at this point, are expected to at least open in the red.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, resource stocks and oil companies, while the property sector was mixed.

For the day, the index slumped 37.14 points or 1.20 percent to finish at 3,051.23 after trading between 3,048.51 and 3,102.65. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 14.69 points or 0.75 percent to end at 1,949.00.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 1.14 percent, while Bank of China retreated 1.29 percent, China Construction Bank declined 1.42 percent, China Merchants Bank slumped 1.19 percent, Bank of Communications skidded 1.08 percent, China Life Insurance eased 0.19 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 4.58 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plummeted 6.14 percent, Yankuang Energy weakened 1.25 percent, PetroChina cratered 6.07 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) tanked 4.47 percent, Huaneng Power sank 1.24 percent, Maanshan Iron & Steel tumbled 4.23 percent, China Shenhua Energy surrendered 2.63 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.72 percent, Poly Developments advanced 0.80 percent, China Vanke eased 0.40 percent and China Fortune Land was down 3.38 percent.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be negative as the major averages were unable to hold early support on Monday, accelerating to the downside as the day progressed.

The Dow tumbled 329.60 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 29.260.81, while the NASDAQ dropped 65.00 points or 0.60 percent to close at 10.802.92 and the S&P 500 fell 38.19 points or 1.03 percent to end at 3,655.04.

A continued surge in the value of the U.S. dollar contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, with the greenback hitting a record high versus the British pound.

Concerns about the outlook for the global economy also continued to weigh on the markets amid worries the increases in interest rates around the world will lead to a recession. The Fed and other central banks have indicated they plan to continue raising rates in an effort to combat stubbornly elevated inflation.

The extended weakness on Wall Street also came amid a spike in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note soaring to a 12-year high.

Crude oil prices tumbled to near nine-month lows on Monday, extending losses from the previous session amid rising concerns about the outlook for fuel demand due to increasing possibility of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended lower by $2.03 or 2.6 percent at $76.71 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release August figures for industrial profits; in July, profits were up 0.80 percent on year and down 1.1 percent year-to-date.