China Stock Market Likely To Continue Recent Rally

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in five straight sessions, accelerating almost 85 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,160-point plateau and it's looking at another green light for Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly positive on optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the resource and energy stocks, weakness from the properties and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index picked up 2.42 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 3,157.64 after trading between 3,151.84 and 3,170.74. The Shenzhen Composite Index perked 3.38 points or 0.17 percent to end at 2,040.53.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.23 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.31 percent, China Construction Bank dipped 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.31 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.37 percent, Jiangxi Copper improved 0.70 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.45 percent, Yankuang Energy strengthened 1.42 percent, PetroChina was down 0.20 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) eased 0.23 percent, Huaneng Power lost 0.38 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.07 percent, Gemdale dropped 0.93 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.41 percent, China Vanke sank 0.57 percent, China Fortune Land slumped 1.20 percent, Beijing Capital Development plunged 2.24 percent and Bank of Communications was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but only accelerated as the day continued, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 700.51 points or 2.13 percent to finish at 33,630.61, while the NASDAQ soared 264.09 points or 2.56 percent to end at 10,569.29 and the S&P 500 jumped 86.98 points or 2.28 percent to close at 3,895.08.

Stocks rallied as investors hoped that the report from the Institute for Supply Management showing U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly contracted in December will convince the Federal Reserve to slow its aggressive pace on interest rate hikes.

Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department reported that employment increased more than expected in December, while the jobless rate fell to a 50-year low.

Crude oil prices settled flat on Friday as fears of a global recession raised concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $73.77 a barrel, up just 10 cents from the previous close.