China Shares May Bounce Higher Again On Friday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had collected more than 15 points or 0.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,830-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology stocks expected to lead the way higher. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Thursday with damage across the board, especially among the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 44.68 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 3,831.66 after trading between 3,801.00 and 3,899.96. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 30.33 points or 1.21 percent to end at 2,480.19.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 2.28 percent, while Bank of China and Bank of Communications both declined 1.85 percent, Agricultural Bank of China sank 2.73 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 2.23 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 1.38 percent, Jiangxi Copper plummeted 6.41 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) crashed 3.90 percent, Yankuang Energy stumbled 3.96 percent, PetroChina cratered 2.96 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) contracted 1.64 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 1.99 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.80 percent, Gemdale plunged 4.85 percent, Poly Developments surrendered 3.00 percent and China Vanke tanked 3.97 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow climbed 124.10 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 46,142.42, while the NASDAQ rallied 209.40 points or 0.94 percent to end at 22,470.72 and the S&P 500 gained 31.61 points or 0.48 percent to close at 6,631.96.

Technology stocks led the markets higher amid a spike by shares of Intel (INTC), with the chipmaker skyrocketing by 22.8 percent to its best closing level in over a year.

The rally by Intel came after the company announced a collaboration with Nvidia (NVDA) to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data center and PC products.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims pulled back by more than expected last week. Also, the Conference Board said its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators fell more than expected in August.

Crude oil fell on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted at a slowdown by the American economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.46 or 0.72 percent at $63.59 per barrel.