Lower Open Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 85 points or 2.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,155-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild downside on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are likely to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and energy companies.

For the day, the index dipped 9.33 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 3,156.14 after trading between 3,149.84 and 3,170.90. The Shenzhen Composite Index perked 0.50 points or 0.02 percent to end at 2,044.60.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.24 percent, while China Construction Bank shed 0.55 percent, China Merchants Bank declined 1.74 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.42 percent, China Life Insurance and Huaneng Power both sank 0.79 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.14 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.33 percent, Yankuang Energy tumbled 1.77 percent, PetroChina perked 0.19 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) eased 0.22 percent, China Shenhua Energy stumbled 1.57 percent, Gemdale plummeted 3.74 percent, Poly Developments tanked 2.53 percent, China Vanke plunged 3.21 percent, ChinaFortune Land rallied 2.53 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday but improved all session, finally ending mixed but little changed.

The Dow rose 34.87 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 34,429.88, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.95 points or 0.18 percent to close at 11,461.50 and the S&P 500 fell 4.87 points or 0.12 percent to end at 4,071.70.

The early weakness on Wall Street followed the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report, which showed stronger than expected job growth in November.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data has added to lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

The Federal Reserve is likely to slow the pace of interest rate hikes as early as next month, but continued labor market tightness may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated.

Crude oil futures slumped on Friday ahead of OPEC's meeting over the weekend and the European Unio's cap of Russian crude. West Texas Intermediate shed 1.24 per 1,5 percent to $79.98 per barrel.