China Shares Expected To See Continued Consolidation

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, shedding more than 100 points or 2.5 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,950-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on soaring crude oil prices and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index stumbled 49.50 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 3,957.05 after trading between 3,955.71 and 4,022.70. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 30.84 points or 1.18 percent to end at 2,589.10.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.40 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.36 percent, Agricultural Bank of China skidded 1.02 percent, China Merchants Bank eased 0.05 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.29 percent, China Life Insurance declined 1.58 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.47 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.54 percent, Yankuang Energy jumped 1.94 percent, PetroChina stumbled 1.92 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) crashed 3.18 percent, Huaneng Power improved 0.80 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.16 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.99 percent, Poly Developments slumped 1.28 percent and China Vanke cratered 3.56 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Friday and continued to weaken as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 443.96 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 45,577.47, while the NASDAQ plunged 443.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 21,647.61 and the S&P 500 sank 100.01 points or 1.51 percent to end at 6,506.48. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 2.1 percent and the S&P lost 1.9 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid continued volatility by the price of crude oil, which has been a key driver of trading in recent sessions and showed wild swings over the course of the day.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday as fresh attacks on Kuwait by Iran renewed concerns of a prolonged gulf war, stoking production disruption worries. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was up by $1.68 or 1.75 percent at $97.82 per barrel.

Oil prices remain sharply higher compared to when the war began, fueling concerns about the outlook for inflation and interest rates. CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently indicates the Federal Reserve is not likely to cut interest rates this year and there's a chance rates could even be higher by the end of the year.