Mild Rebound Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had declined almost 25 points or 0.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,040-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on positive momentum regarding the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the properties and resource stocks were offset by gains from the oil companies and a mixed bag from the financial sector.

For the day, the index lost 20.89 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 3,040.97 after trading between 3,037.20 and 3,060.33. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 20.83 points or 1.08 percent to end at 1,900.59.

Among the actives, Bank of China added 0.51 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.63 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.46 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.20 percent, Jiangxi Copper fell 0.34 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) dropped 0.88 percent, Yankuang Energy jumped 1.62 percent, PetroChina was up 0.14 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.18 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 1.60 percent, China Shenhua Energy increased 0.32 percent, Gemdale sank 0.87 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.09 percent, China Vanke lost 0.41 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street varies widely as the Dow opened higher on Friday and stayed that way, the NASDAQ opened lower and stayed that way and the S&P bounced back and forth across the line all day and finished barely higher.

The Dow gained 117.15 points or 0.33 percent to finish at 35,390.15, while the NASDAQ dipped 15.05 points or 0.11 percent to close at 14,250.85 and the S&P 500 perked 2.72 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,559.34.

For the holiday-interrupted week, the Dow rose 1.3 percent, while the S&P 500 advanced 1.0 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 0.9 percent.

The choppy action on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following Thursday's holiday, with the markets closing three hours earlier than usual.

A lack of major U.S. economic data also kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of this week's reports on new home sales, consumer confidence, pending home sales and manufacturing activity.

Oil prices fell sharply Friday, with traders waiting on a crucial OPEC meeting this week as oil producers struggling to come to a consensus on production levels. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended lower by $1.56 or 2 percent at $75.54 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see October numbers for industrial profits later this morning; in September, profits were down 9.0 percent year-to-date.