China Stock Market May Test Support At 3,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, shedding more than 50 points or 1.7 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,025-point plateau and it may take further damage on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, although losses from the technology stocks may be mitigated by support from the oil companies. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday despite gains from the financial shares, resource stocks and properties.

For the day, the index lost 21.73 points or 0.71 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,026.31 after peaking at 3,065.26. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 33.14 points or 1.86 percent to end at 1,749.15.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China increased 0.76 percent, while Bank of China perked 0.23 percent, China Construction Bank dipped 0.15 percent, China Merchants Bank and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) both added 0.48 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.64 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.88 percent, Jiangxi Copper rallied 1.40 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 3.77 percent, Yankuang Energy gained 0.54 percent, PetroChina spiked 2.20 percent, Huaneng Power improved 0.78 percent, China Shenhua Energy jumped 1.50 percent, Gemdale rose 0.51 percent, Poly Developments soared 3.20 percent and China Vanke advanced 0.86 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and largely remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 162.26 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 39,313.64, while the NASDAQ sank 44.35 points or 0.27 percent to close at 16,384.47 and the S&P 500 fell 15.99 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,218.19.

Weakness among technology stocks weighed on the markets, with semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) plunging by as much as 4.7 percent after reports suggested that China has introduced new guidelines to phase microprocessors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) out of government PCs and servers.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days, including key inflation numbers on Friday.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in February.

Oil prices moved higher on Monday amid concerns about supply disruptions after Ukraine continued to attack Russian refineries. A weak dollar amid expectations of interest rate cuts by central banks contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.32 or 1.64 percent at $81.95 a barrel.