BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market on Tuesday wrote a finish to the four-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 90 points or 3.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,880-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are predicted to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished barely lower on Tuesday as losses from the financials were mitigated by support from the oil companies and properties.
For the day, the index dipped 3.09 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 2,880.00 after trading between 2,875.00 and 2,892.08. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 2.15 points or 0.14 percent to end at 1,574.12.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.91 percent, while Bank of China lost 0.56 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 1.13 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.08 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.34 percent, Ping An Insurance sank 0.58 percent, PetroChina added 0.16 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.20 percent, China Shenhua Energy eased 0.05 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.55 percent, Poly Developments advanced 1.19 percent, China Vanke climbed 1.08 percent and CITIC Securities plunged 1.60 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as stocks fluctuated on Tuesday before coming under pressure in the afternoon to finish in the red.
The Dow shed 173.35 points or 0.66 percent to 25,962.44, while the NASDAQ lost 54.25 points or 0.68 percent to 7,948.56 and the S&P fell 23.14 points or 0.79 percent to 2,900.51.
The weakness on Wall Street came amid a pullback by bond yields, which moved back to the downside following the rebound on Monday and Friday.
Traders also expressed some uncertainty ahead of the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting later today. The minutes, along with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech on Friday, may shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.
The Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points last month and CME Group's FedWatch tool currently indicates a 95 percent chance of another 25 basis point rate cut in September.
Negative sentiment was also generated by comments from President Donald Trump once again threatening to impose tariffs on European auto imports.
Crude oil futures ended marginally higher Tuesday on China's interest rate reforms and expectations of more stimulus from global central banks. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for September expired at $56.34 a barrel, gaining $0.13 or 0.2 percent. WTI oil futures for October settled at $56.13 a barrel.
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