The China stock market has tracked lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 115 points or 3.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,275-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Tuesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower amid a lack of catalysts as investors take a wait-and-see attitude. The European markets finished slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets also figure to tick lower.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the properties and resource stocks were mitigated by support from the financial sector.
For the day, the index sank 25.84 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 3,275.41 after trading between 3,264.93 and 3,303.09.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.43 percent, while Bank of China and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) both climbed 1.12 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.32 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 2.61 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.36 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 0.86 percent, Jiangxi Copper tumbled 1.92 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 2.84 percent, Yankuang Energy declined 1.75 percent, PetroChina perked 0.41 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 2.18 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.41 percent, Gemdale stumbled 2.62 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.88 percent, China Vanke plummeted 2.61 percent, China Fortune Land sank 0.44 percent and China Minsheng Bank was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages spent most of Monday hugging the line before finally ending mixed and little changed.
The Dow rose 66.44 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 33,875.40, while the NASDAQ dipped 35.25 points or 0.29 percent to close at 12,037.20 and the S&P 500 rose 3.52 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,137.04.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders remained reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of earnings news from several big-name companies in the coming days.
Tech giants Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Intel (INTC), Meta Platforms (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) are among a slew of well-known companies due to report their quarterly results this week.
Reports on consumer confidence, new home sales, durable goods orders, first quarter GDP and personal income and spending are likely to attract attention in the coming days.
Crude oil futures settled higher on Monday following reports that OPEC is planning additional supply cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended higher by $0.89 or 1.1 percent at $78.76 a barrel.
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