Higher Open Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 60 points or 1.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index new sits just above the 3,245-point plateau and it's predicted to open higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian bourses is positive after interest rate concerns resulted in oversold markets. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financials, properties, resource stocks and energy producers.

For the day, the index advanced 31.04 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 3,246.25 after trading between 3,199.12 and 3,248.35. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 5.24 points or 0.24 percent to end at 2,155.14.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.46 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.66 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.37 percent, China Merchants Bank improved 2.59 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.44 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 3.18 percent, Jiangxi Copper accelerated 2.63 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) soared 3.47 percent, Yankuang Energy skyrocketed by the 10 percent daily limit, PetroChina jumped 3.00 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) strengthened 1.68 percent, Huaneng Power surged 5.40 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 4.99 percent, Gemdale perked 0.52 percent, Poly Developments gathered 2.86 percent, China Vanke increased 1.15 percent, China Fortune Land was up 1.06 percent and Beijing Capital Development climbed 1.62 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed on Thursday but quickly turned higher and maintained a largely positive bias throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow spiked 322.55 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 33,291.78, while the NASDAQ surged 207.74 points or 1.67 percent to end at 12,639.27 and the S&P 500 jumped 58.35 points or 1.41 percent to end at 4,199.12.

The strength that emerged on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech in the Jackson Hole Symposium later today.

Powell is widely expected to reiterate the central bank's hawkish stance, given the expectations that inflation in the U.S. will be persistent and it will take time to contain it. That has already largely been priced into the markets, however.

On the economic front, the Labor Department said the U.S. economy contracted an annualized 0.6 percent in the second quarter, following a 1.6 percent drop a quarter earlier. Also, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims dropped more than expected last week.

Crude oil futures settled lower Thursday, after posting gains in the previous two sessions. Oil prices fell as traders weighed the prospects for the return of Iranian oil to the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended lower by $2.37 or 2.5 percent at $92.52 a barrel.