Lower Open Anticipated For China Shares

(RTTNews) - The China stock market ticked higher again on Thursday, one day after ending the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 85 points or 2.6. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,370-point plateau although it may head south again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later today. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Thursday following mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index rose 4.21 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,368.86 after trading between 3,353.06 and 3,377.05. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 14.90 points or 0.74 percent to end at 2,039.31.

Among the actives, Bank of China dropped 0.59 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.49 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.27 percent, Agricultural Bank of China rose 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.85 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.03 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.31 percent, Yankuang Energy slumped 1.07 percent, PetroChina tumbled 1.78 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 1.39 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.42 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 0.43 percent, Poly Developments sank 0.59 percent, China Vanke fell 0.35 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Gemdale were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened flat on Thursday and hugged the line for much of the day before slipping under water heading into the close.

The Dow slumped248.33 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 44,765.71, while the NASDAQ shed 34.86 points or 0.18 percent to close at 19,700.26 and the S&P 600 fell 11.38 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,075.11.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

The jobs data could impact the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.

While traders have recently expressed greater confidence the Fed will lower rates by another 25 basis points at the December meeting, there remains uncertainty about the likelihood of continued rate cuts at future meetings.

Crude oil prices dipped on Thursday, weighed by weak demand from China and rising production in the United States - although the downside was limited by OPEC's decision to delay a production increase. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January fell $0.24 or 0.4 percent at $68.30 a barrel.