(RTTNews) - The China stock market has ended lower in three straight trading days, retreating more than 30 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,560-point plateau although it's got a green light for Tuesday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive as the markets look to recover from heavy selling following the discovery of a new coronavirus strain. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit. The SCI finished slightly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.
For the day, the index dipped 1.39 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,562.70 after trading between 3,526.35 and 3,563.68. Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.65 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.52 percent, China Merchants Bank slid 0.56 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) both weakened 0.38 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 2.26 percent, Yanzhou Coal skidded 1.29 percent, PetroChina sank 0.63 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 1.23 percent, Huaneng Power surged 8.92 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 0.76 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.27 percent, Poly Developments declined 0.78 percent, China Vanke surrendered 2.79 percent and China Minsheng Bank was unchanged. The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened firmly higher on Monday and remained in the green throughout the trading day.
The Dow climbed 236.60 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 35,135.94, while the NASDAQ surged 291.18 points or 1.88 percent to close at 15,782.83 and the S&P 500 gained 60.65 points or 1.32 percent to end at 4,655.
Bargain hunting contributed to the strength on Wall Street after Friday's steep drop dragged the major averages down to their lowest closing levels in at least a month. News of a new coronavirus variant contributed to the sell-off as traders worried the pandemic would continue to weigh on the global economy.
But the South African doctor who treated early cases of the new variant told the BBC countries could be panicking unnecessarily and the symptoms she had seen were extremely mild.
President Joe Biden also told reporters there is no need for the U.S. to reimpose lockdowns as a result of the new variant, helping lift stocks to new highs.
In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales rebounded by much more than expected in October.
Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Monday, bouncing back and regaining some ground after Friday's setback as traders looked ahead to OPEC meetings. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $1.80 or 2.6 percent at $69.95 a barrel. Closer to home, China will see November results for manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs from the National Bureau of Statistics later this morning; in October, their scores were 49.2, 52.4 and 50.8, respectively.
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