Mild Upside Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market rebounded on Friday, one session after snapping the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,315-point plateau and it's looking at a steady start for Monday's trade.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with support expected from the technology stocks and weakness from oil companies amid recession fears. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit on Monday.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, weakness from the properties and oil companies and a mixed picture from the energy stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 31.40 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 3,316.79 after trading between 3,262.89 and 3,323.28. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 24.47 points or 1.16 percent to end at 2,131.22.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.06 percent, while China Construction Bank rose 0.17 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.28 percent, China Minsheng Bank added 0.51 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance strengthened 1.57 percent, Jiangxi Copper lost 0.38 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) dropped 0.80 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.43 percent, PetroChina retreated 1.52 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 0.48 percent, Huaneng Power sank 0.63 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.49 percent, Gemdale retreated 0.59 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.06 percent, China Vanke slid 0.17 percent, China Fortune Land tanked 2.40 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the major averages opened higher on Friday, although the Dow was unable to hold its gains.

The Dow shed 38.29 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 29,888.78, while the NASDAQ surged 152.25 points or 1.43 percent to end at 10,798.35 and the S&P 500 rose 8.07 points or 0.22 percent to close at 3,674.84. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ both plunged 3.8 percent and the S&P tumbled 5.8 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came amid a quadruple witching day, which refers to the expiration of stock index futures, single-stock futures, stock options and stock index options.

Traders may also have been expressing some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following Thursday's sell-off, which reflected concerns about the economic impact of aggressive monetary policy tightening.

In economic news, the Federal Reserve said industrial production increased less than expected in May, while the Conference Board showed a continued decrease by its reading on leading U.S. economic indicators last month.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Friday on mounting fears about a possible global economic recession following severe tightening of policies by several central banks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended lower by $8.03 or 6.8 percent at $109.56 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will release prime loan rates for one year and five years later today; currently, the rates sit at 3.7 percent and 4.45 percent, respectively.