A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, the United States, on Aug. 14, 2019. Photo:Xinhua

The flagship Shanghai Composite Index finished above 2,900 points on Tuesday, up 0.39 percent or 11.18 points, an indication of continued vibrancy in the mainland market. 

Throughout the day, nonetheless, the market was in for a bumpy ride, with only about one-third stocks traded on the mainland market ending in positive territory. The Shenzhen Component Index was up 0.37 percent, or 40.17 points, to close at 10,768.63 points, while the ChiNext index, the main force of an A share market rebound over the past few trading days, lost steam to retreat 0.67 percent, or 13.74 points, to 2,028.44 points.

Steel and airport, aviation and liquor shares posted gains while facial masks and home office suppliers saw broad losses. 

With the economy entering the second day of a nationwide recommencement push, as many businesses were still taking a wait-and-see approach to the restart of operations and work, more efforts were announced to continue the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia as well as to bolster the economy. 

One notable example was an announcement by the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday to front-load 848 billion yuan ($121.59 billion) of this year's quota for local government bonds, with 558 billion yuan in general bonds and 290 billion yuan in special bonds.

This adds to the recent announcement of 1 trillion yuan in special bonds, bringing the amount of the new local government quota for the year to 1.85 trillion yuan, in an indication of ramped-up efforts to shore up the economy.

The virus outbreak is still casting uncertainty over the outlook for the economy. New confirmed infections of the virus saw the seventh consecutive day of decline as of Tuesday in the Chinese mainland outside Central China's Hubei Province, per data from China's top health authority. However, that daily fatalities, albeit a tiny proportion of total infections, appear to be still climbing, might unnerve global investors.

US stocks, already under pressure from lower economic estimates, might be somewhat puzzled in finding a future direction.