Higher Open Called For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, collecting almost 50 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,080-point plateau and it's likely to see additional support on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from technology and oil stocks. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the resource stocks and weakness from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index climbed 30.29 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 3,084.93 after trading between 3,055.92 and 3,085.31. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 28.77 points or 1.62 percent to end at 1,803.45.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.58 percent, while China Construction Bank sank 0.73 percent, Bank of Communications and China Merchants Bank both dipped 0.16 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 2.51 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.14 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) improved 0.74 percent, Yankuang Energy tumbled 1.87 percent, PetroChina was up 0.11 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.47 percent, Gemdale shed 0.49 percent, Poly Developments slumped 1.96 percent, China Vanke lost 0.32 percent and Bank of China, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Huaneng Power were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened solidly higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.

The Dow advanced 75.66 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 38,790.43, while the NASDAQ jumped 130.27 points or 0.82 percent to close at 16,103.45 and the S&P 500 gained 32.33 points or 0.63 percent to end at 5,149.42.

Technology stocks led the rally on Wall Street, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ showing a strong move to the upside on gains from the likes of Alphabet (GOOGL) and Nvidia (NVDA).

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged after recent inflation readings have reduced optimism about a rate cut in June.

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported an unexpected improvement in U.S. homebuilder confidence in March.

Oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns about supply due to geopolitical risks following continued drone attacks by Ukraine on Russian oil refineries, as well as data showing a drop in crude exports from Iraq and Saudi Arabia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April jumped $1.68 or 2.1 percent at $82.72 a barrel.