BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has climbed higher in two straight sessions, gathering almost 45 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,930-point plateau although investors may cash in on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the trade dispute between the United States and China and tumbling crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following a mixed performance from the financials and weakness from the properties.
For the day, the index rose 6.04 points or 0.21 percent to finish at the daily high after traveling as low as 2,915.20. The Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 10.64 points or 0.66 percent to end at 1,625.56.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.19 percent, while Bank of China added 0.28 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.55 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.24 percent, Ping An Insurance slid 0.28 percent, PetroChina eased 0.16 percent, China Shenhua Energy was up 0.05 percent, Gemdale sank 0.44 percent, Poly Developments skidded 1.34 percent, China Vanke dropped 0.73 percent and Beijing Capital Development, China Construction Bank and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks opened sharply lower on Tuesday, made some headway as the day progressed but still ended firmly in the red.
The Dow shed 285.26 points or 1.08 percent to 26,118.02, while the NASDAQ lost 88.72 points or 1.11 percent to 7,874.16 and the S&P fell 20.19 points or 0.69 percent to 2,906.27.
Initial selling pressure was generated by new tariffs taking effect over the Labor Day weekend in the escalating U.S.-China trade spat. The U.S. officially imposed a 15 percent tariff on approximately $112 billion in Chinese imports, leading to Chinese retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars in U.S. goods.
Stocks saw further downside after the Institute for Supply Management reported that U.S. manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in three years. Also, the Commerce Department said construction spending inched up less than expected in July.
Crude oil prices declined sharply on Tuesday amid signs of rising OPEC and Russian oil output and on concerns about the outlook for near term energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October ended down $1.16 or 2.1 percent at $53.94 a barrel, the lowest close since August 26.
Closer to home, China will see August results for the services and composite indexes from Caixin later this morning; in July, their scores were 51.6 and 50.9, respectively.
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