China Stock Market May Stop The Bleeding On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, slipping more than 60 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,950-point plateau, although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with earnings optimism tempered by interest rate pessimism. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and resource stocks and a mixed picture from the energy companies.

For the day, the index sank 32.11 points or 0.81 percent to finish at 3,954.79 after trading between 3,951.73 and 3,986.74. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 8.18 points or 0.32 percent to end at 2,509.59.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.77 percent, while Bank of China lost 0.71 percent, Agricultural Bank of China slumped 1.24 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.27 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.92 percent, Jiangxi Copper plummeted 5.21 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 3.10 percent, Yankuang Energy fell 0.34 percent, PetroChina added 0.55 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) skidded 1.08 percent, Huaneng Power stumbled 2.98 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.23 percent, Gemdale rose 0.26 percent and Poly Developments, China Vanke and China Merchants Bank were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened higher on Friday, dipped midday but rebounded into the close to finish in the green.

The Dow added 40.75 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 47,562.87, while the NASDAQ climbed 143.81 points or 0.61 percent to end at 23,724.96 and the S&P 500 rose 17.86 points or 0.26 percent to close at 6,840.20. For the week, the NASDAQ surged 2.2 percent, the Dow added 0.8 percent and the S&P gained 0.7 percent.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Amazon (AMZN), which reached a new record closing high after reporting better than expected third quarter results amid a sharp increase in revenue.

Uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates contributed to the volatility on Wall Street following Federal Reserve Jerome Powell's remarks earlier this week.

While the Fed lowered interest rates by another quarter point as widely expected on Wednesday, Powell's post-meeting remarks partly offset optimism about another rate cut in December.

Crude oil prices edged higher Friday following reports the U.S. intends to strike Venezuelan military installations. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.41 or 0.68 percent at $60.98 per barrel.