China Stock Market May See Profit Taking On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has climbed higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 80 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,040-point plateau although investors may lock in gains on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of key data later this week that could affect the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the resource and energy stocks were limited by weakness from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index added 12.28 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 3,039.31 after trading between 3,007.68 and 3,040.34. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 3.12 points or 0.18 percent to end at 1,728.52.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.37 percent, while China Construction Bank lost 0.43 percent, China Merchants Bank stumbled 1.31 percent, Bank of Communications dropped 0.95 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.97 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.05 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 1.63 percent, Yankuang Energy soared 4.00 percent, PetroChina accelerated 3.87 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 2.26 percent, Huaneng Power spiked 3.71 percent, China Shenhua Energy strengthened 1.59 percent, Gemdale plunged 4.45 percent, Poly Developments plummeted 3.65 percent, China Vanke slumped 4.65 percent and Agricultural Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied in the afternoon but sank back into the red by the close.

The Dow dropped 97.55 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,989.83, while the NASDAQ sank 67.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 16,207.51 and the S&P 500 eased 6.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 5,130.95.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of caution on the part of investors, with several significant data points on tap for the coming days.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony will be in focus for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Then on Friday is the Labor Department's highly anticipated employment report for February, which also could affect the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures ended lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand after OPEC extended its output cuts to the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.