China Stocks Due For Consolidation On Friday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 90 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,350-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on concerns over the health of the financial system and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are predicted to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the financials and resource stocks were capped by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index advanced 27.18 points or 0.82 percent to finish at 3,350.46 after trading between 3,302.03 and 3,352.75. The Shenzhen Composite Index eased 1.64 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 2,054.40.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China soared 4.87 percent, while Bank of China skyrocketed 7.36 percent, China Construction Bank spiked 3.80 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 1.58 percent, Bank of Communications surged 6.28 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.97 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.22 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rose 0.31 percent, Yankuang Energy tumbled 1.60 percent, PetroChina strengthened 1.52 percent, Huaneng Power accelerated 2.89 percent, China Shenhua Energy jumped 1.69 percent, Gemdale plunged 2.94 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.44 percent, China Vanke declined 1.25 percent, Beijing Capital Development slumped 1.57 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 286.50 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 33,127.74, while the NASDAQ dropped 58.93 points or 0.49 percent to close at 11,966.40 and the S&P 500 sank 29.53 points or 0.72 percent to end at 4,061.22.

The continued weakness on Wall Street partly reflects ongoing concerns about turmoil among regional banks after lenders PacWest Bancorp (PACW) and First Horizon (FHN) said they were reviewing their options.

Continued uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates also weighed following the Federal Reserve's tenth straight rate hike on Wednesday. While the Fed's accompanying statement seemed to suggest the central bank plans to pause its rate hiking cycle, Fed Chair Jerome Powell clouded the outlook with a "data-dependent approach" to future monetary policy decisions.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose slightly more than expected last week. Also, the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit shrank to $64.2 billion in March from a revised $70.6 billion in February.

Crude oil futures pared early losses and settled just slightly lower on Thursday, due largely to some short-covering and speculative buying. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down $0.04 at $68.56 a barrel, recovering well from a low of $63.57 a barrel.