Mild Upside Seen For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had gathered almost 80 points or 2.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,635-point plateau although it may tick higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with technology and financial shares likely to lead the way higher. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are also expected to tick higher on Monday.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, support from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index slipped 4.54 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 3,635.13 after trading between 3,625.45 and 3,645.37. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 4.48 points or 0.20 percent to end at 2,220.15.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.64 percent, while Bank of China sank 0.87 percent, China Merchants Bank declined 1.37 percent, Bank of Communications eased 0.13 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.88 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.55 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 1.75 percent, Yankuang Energy slumped 1.18 percent, PetroChina improved 1.04 percent China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.17 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 1.20 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.05 percent, Poly Developments shed 0.37 percent, China Vanke fell 0.31 percent and China Shenhua Energy and Agricultural Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is firm as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained well in the green throughout the session, finishing near daily highs.

The Dow climbed 206.97 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 44,175.61, while the NASDAQ jumped 207.32 points or 0.98 percent to close at a record 21,450.02 and the S&P 500 gained 49.45 points or 0.78 percent to end at 6,389.45.

For the week, the NASDAQ rallied 3.9 percent, the S&P 500 surged 2.4 percent and the Dow shot up 1.4 percent.

Wall Street was led higher by the tech sector as shares of Apple (AAPL) showed a substantial move to the upside last week after announcing plans to spend about $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.

Computer hardware stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index climbing by 1.4 percent. Significant strength also emerged among banking, oil service, brokerage and networking stocks.

Crude oil posted very slight gains on Friday as uncertainty prevails over the U.S.-Russia conflict over the war with Ukraine, combined with the threat of sanctions on Russian oil exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for September was up $0.03 or 0.05 percent to $63.91 per barrel.