BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last nine trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had retreated more than 45 points or 0.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,610-point plateau and it's expected to open higher again on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, largely riding optimism for earnings as the season progresses. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the resource stocks were capped by weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the financials.
For the day, the index advanced 27.26 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 3,609.86 after trading between 3,564.21 and 3,611.09. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 20.55 points or 0.85 percent to end at 2,433.22.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.21 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank shed 0.33 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.55 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance gathered 0.28 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 0.82 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 3.12 percent, Yanzhou Coal was up 0.21 percent, PetroChina soared 3.68 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 2.06 percent, China Shenhua Energy spiked 3.33 percent, Gemdale plunged 3.06 percent, Poly Developments tumbled 1.60 percent, China Vanke tanked 3.47 percent and Beijing Capital Development plummeted 8.71 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages shook off a soft start on Monday, climbing quickly into the green and finishing solidly higher.
The Dow added 64.13 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 35,741.15, while the NASDAQ spiked 136.51 points or 0.90 percent to close at 15,226.71 and the S&P 500 rose 21.58 points or 0.47 percent to end at 4,566.48.
The strength on Wall Street reflected optimism about more upbeat earnings news, with a slew of big-name companies due to report their quarterly results this week including Facebook (FB), General Electric (GE), UPS (UPS), Alphabet (GOOGL), Coca-Cola (KO), General Motors (GM), McDonald's (MCD), Ford (F), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (APPL), and Exxon Mobil (XOM).
Upbeat earnings news has contributed to a recent upward trend on Wall Street, as most companies have reported better than expected results.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make big moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week. The Fed is likely to leave interest rates unchanged but could announce plans to begin scaling back its asset purchase program.
Oil futures settled flat Monday as prices fell sharply from the day's high towards the end of the session, with traders weighing supply and demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude for December ended unchanged at $83.76 a barrel after peaking at $85.41 a barrel, a seven-year high earlier in the day.
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