China Bourse May Extend Thursday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 70 points or 2.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,120-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the property stocks and oil companies, while the financials and resource shares were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 17.26 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 3,119.88 after trading between 3,113.95 and 3,139.98. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 11.40 points or 0.58 percent to end at 1,947.48.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.65 percent, while Bank of China dipped 0.27 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.33 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.35 percent, Bank of Communications added 0.36 percent, China Life Insurance gained 0.42 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.68 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) increased 0.51 percent, Yankuang Energy improved 0.58 percent, PetroChina was down 0.13 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) eased 0.16 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.12 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.39 percent, Gemdale plummeted 8.16 percent, Poly Developments plunged 5.22 percent and China Vanke tanked 3.94 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher but faded as the day progressed, ending on opposite side of the unchanged line.

The Dow sank 168.33 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 34,721.91, while the NASDAQ added 15.66 points or 0.11 percent to close at 14,034.97 and the S&P 500 eased 7.21 points or 0.16 percent to end at 4,507.66.

The early strength on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to a Commerce Department report showing consumer price growth in the U.S. accelerated in line with forecasts in July.

Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the closely watched jobs report later today.

Crude oil moved sharply higher on Thursday, advancing for the sixth consecutive session following another steep drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery surged $2 or 2.5 percent to $83.63 a barrel, a three-week closing high.