China Bourse May Test Support At 4,000 Points

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 15 points or 0.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sit just above the 4,025-point plateau and it may spin its wheels again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower on concerns over the situation in the Middle East and on the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were barely in the red and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index plummeted 93.02 points or 2.26 percent to finish at 4,027.27 after trading between 4,007.86 and 4,099.78. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 90.08 points or 3.13 percent to end at 2,786.04.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.56 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.52 percent, Agricultural Bank of China dropped 0.96 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.63 percent, Bank of Communications slumped 1.21 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 5.01 percent, Jiangxi Copper cratered 6.69 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 4.55 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.05 percent, PetroChina rallied 1.36 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) surrendered 2.21 percent, Huaneng Power declined 1.22 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.43 percent, Gemdale crashed 3.62 percent, Poly Developments slipped 0.42 percent and China Vanke jumped 2.03 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday, peeked back above the unchanged line by midday but slumped again heading into the close.

The Dow shed 44.51 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 51,876.11, while the NASDAQ sank 60.99 points or 0.24 percent to close at 25,297.62 and the S&P 500 eased 3.47 points or 0.05 percent to end at 7,354.02.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came un the ambiguity surrounding the peace process in the U.S.-Iran conflict, while the earlier positive bounce was the result of sliding crude oil prices.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday as optimism increases on resumption of oil flow from the Arab region. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was down $2.60 or 3.62 percent at $69.32 per barrel.

In economic news, revised data released by the University of Michigan showed consumer sentiment in the U.S. rebounded slightly more than estimated in June. The University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for June was upwardly revised to 49.5 from the previously reported 48.9.