BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market bounced higher again on Monday, one session after snapping the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 1.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just shy of the 3,625-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, with tech and oil shares likely to lead the way. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday following gains from the financials, weakness from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the properties.
For the day, the index advanced 17.49 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 3,624.24 after trading between 3,591.02 and 3,637.10. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 6.61 points or 0.27 percent to end at 2,462.85.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.20 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.46 percent, China Merchants Bank advanced 0.91 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.44 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.68 percent, Jiangxi Copper spiked 1.84 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.42 percent, Yanzhou Coal plummeted 6.07 percent, PetroChina sank 0.72 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) skidded 1.23 percent, China Shenhua Energy tanked 2.20 percent, Gemdale surrendered 1.92 percent, Poly Developments dropped 1.35 percent, China Vanke gained 0.34 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed as stocks fluctuated throughout the trading day on Monday before ending on opposite sides of the unchanged line.
The Dow fell 36.98 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 30,960.00, while the NASDAQ jumped 92.93 points or 0.69 percent to end at a record 13,635.99 and the S&P 500 rose 13.89 points or 0.36 percent to close at a record 3,855.36.
The continued advance by the NASDAQ came as traders expressed optimism about upcoming earnings from big-name tech companies such as Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT). On the other hand, the drop by the Dow came as American Express (AXP) and Caterpillar (CAT) slipped ahead of their quarterly results.
Traders also kept an eye on developments in Washington amid reports of growing Republican opposition to President Joe Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Monday amid expectations of a drop in crude supplies following reports that oil exports have been halted at some Libyan ports due to a dispute over wages. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended up $0.50 or 1 percent at $52.77 a barrel.
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