China Bourse May Test Resistance At 3,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 30 points or 1 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 2,970-point plateau and it's expected to open to the upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with bargain hunting expected in the technology sectors. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished barely higher on Friday as gains from the financials and properties were offset by weakness from the resource and energy companies.

For the day, the index perked 0.91 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 2,971.29 after trading between 2,963.30 and 2,977.14. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 2.35 points or 0.14 percent to end at 1,617.48.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China spiked 2.53 percent, while Bank of China rallied 1.49 percent, China Construction Bank advanced 1.10 percent, China Merchants Bank soared 3.34 percent, Bank of Communications collected 1.09 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 2.20 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 3.43 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) accelerated 1.54 percent, Yankuang Energy tanked 2.31 percent, PetroChina retreated 1.24 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.31 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 3.01 percent, China Shenhua Energy skidded 1.13 percent, Gemdale improved 2.48 percent, Poly Developments surged 3.80 percent and China Vanke strengthened 2.06 percent.

The lead from all Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher and remained well into the green throughout the session.

The Dow rallied 247.10 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 40,000.90, while the NASDAQ climbed 115.04 points or 0.63 percent to end at 18,398.45 and the S&P 500 gained 30.81 points or 0.55 percent to close at 5,615.35.

For the week, the Dow shot up 1.6 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ rose 0.3 percent.

The rebound on Wall Street came as traders looked to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following the steep drop on Thursday, which partly reflected a rotation out of leading tech stocks like Nvidia (NVDA).

Traders also remained optimistic about the outlook for interest rates even though the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in June.

Oil futures settled lower on Friday, weighed down by data showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in June. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.41 at $82.21 a barrel.