More Pain Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, retreating almost 110 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 2,890-point and it's likely to open in the red again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets mixed to lower amid soft earnings news and ahead of the FOMC's policy announcement later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index dropped 22.44 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 2,893.48 after trading between 2,885.09 and 2,926.01. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 7.21 points or 0.38 percent to end at 1,886.41.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surrendered 2.35 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China fell 1.43 percent, Bank of China retreated 1.63 percent, China Construction Bank declined 1.48 percent, China Merchants Bank slumped 1.32 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.67 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.42 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) stumbled 1.53 percent, Yankuang Energy plummeted 6.88 percent, PetroChina cratered 5.52 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) plunged 4.91 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 2.33 percent, China Shenhua Energy skidded 4.53 percent, Gemdale lost 2.74 percent, Poly Developments crashed 9.98 percent, China Vanke dropped 5.72 percent and Jiangxi Copper and China Fortune Land were unchanged.

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

The Dow slumped 128.85 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 32,732.95, while the NASDAQ sank 114.31 points or 1.03 percent to end at 10,988.15 and the S&P 500 dropped 29.08 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,871.98.

The Dow posted a gain of almost 14 percent in October, the biggest monthly return since January 1976. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, last month.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by another 75 basis points - its fourth straight rate hike - to fight soaring inflation.

Also weighing were disappointing earnings results from the likes of Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon Inc (AMZN), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.TO), Meta Platforms Inc (META) and Intel (INTC).

Crude oil prices fell Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China following a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases. A rise in oil output in the U.S., and a firm dollar also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $1.37 or 1.6 percent at $86.53 a barrel.