Higher Open Tipped For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 90 points or 2.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 4,030-point plateau although it may bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with weakness from the technology shares likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the property and resource sectors, while the oil companies were up and the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index plunged 83.54 points or 2.03 percent to finish at 4,028.90 after trading between 4,019.21 and 4,093.68. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 80.19 points or 2.81 percent to end at 2,771.62.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China eased 0.14 percent, while Bank of China retreated 1.24 percent, Agricultural Bank of China and Yankuang Energy both slumped 1.16 percent, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.92 percent, Bank of Communications collected 1.09 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.70 percent, Jiangxi Copper tumbled 2.01 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) shed 0.37 percent, PetroChina climbed 1.03 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) vaulted 1.32 percent, Huaneng Power rose 0.26 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 3.27 percent, Gemdale contracted 1.36 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.48 percent and China Vanke shed 0.65 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but slumped after the release of U.S. jobless data; the markers eventually recovered to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 594.83 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 52,900.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 207.36 points or 0.80 percent to end at 25,832.67 and the S&P 500 perked 0.01 point or 0.00 percent to close at 7,483.24.

The markets opened slightly higher on Thursday but were clearly waiting on the jobs data. Stocks sank after the Labor Department said employment in the U.S. increased much less than expected in June.

Sentiment eventually turned higher again as the lower-than-expected payrolls data caused markets to tone down fears of an immediate rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

In other U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department reported a steep drop in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in May, thanks to a sharp pullback in new orders for durable goods. Also, first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged lower last week.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Thursday after the U.S. and Iran expressed contradictory remarks over the management of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $0.05 or 0.07 percent at $68.63 per barrel.

Closer to home, China will see June results for the services PMI from Caixin later this morning; the PMI is expected to see a score of 53.0, down from 54.4 in May.