China Shares Poised For Additional Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday snapped the four-day losing streak in which it had slumped almost 65 points or 2.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 2,970-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on an improved outlook for inflation. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion on Monday.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the oil companies were capped by weakness from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index perked 3.35 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 2,969.56 after trading between 2,962.33 and 2,980.83. The Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 2.42 points or 0.13 percent to end at 1,847.78.

Among the actives, Bank of China retreated 1.25 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.79 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.11 percent, Bank of Communications eased 0.17 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.94 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.58 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sank 0.76 percent, Yankuang Energy tumbled 1.86 percent, PetroChina rallied 1.33 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) spiked 2.05 percent, Huaneng Power rose 0.39 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.03 percent, Gemdale tanked 2.19 percent, Poly Developments slumped 0.91 percent, China Vanke skidded 1.10 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages overcame early choppiness on Friday, moving solidly higher in afternoon trade to finish in the green.

The Dow rallied 130.47 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 36,247.87, while the NASDAQ gained 63.97 points or 0.45 percent to close at 14,403.97 and the S&P 500 added 18.78 points or 0.41 percent to end at 4,604.37. For the week, the Dow inched marginally higher, the S&P 500 rose 0.2 percent and the NASDAQ added 0.7 percent.

The early volatility on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Labor Department report showing stronger than expected job growth in November.

The data raised concerns that strength in the labor market could lead the Federal Reserve to delay cutting interest rates, with investors hoping the central bank would pivot to rate cuts as early as March 2024.

But buying interest was generated in reaction to a University of Michigan report showing a pullback in consumers' inflation expectations in December.

Oil spiked sharply on Friday after Saudi Arabia and Russia urged the members of OPEC to join an output cut agreement. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $1.89 or 2.7 percent at $71.23 a barrel, snapping a six-day losing streak.