No Help Yet For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 35 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,270-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index lost 20.32 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 3,267.16 after trading between 3,253.97 and 3,288.39. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 14.08 points or 0.65 percent to end at 2,140.65.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.23 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.31 percent, China Construction Bank eased 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 2.12 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.86 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.30 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.96 percent, Yankuang Energy dipped 0.14 percent, PetroChina slid 0.38 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.43 percent, Huaneng Power added 0.64 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 0.61 percent, Gemdale surrendered 1.93 percent, Poly Developments declined 2.04 percent, China Vanke slumped1.43 percent and Bank of Communications was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is solidly negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and stayed in the red throughout the session, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 336.98 points or 1.02 percent to finish at 32,816.92, while the NASDAQ slumped 195.46 points or 1.69 percent to close at 11,394.94 and the S&P 500 sank 42.28 points or 1.05 percent to end at 3,970.04.

For the holiday-shortened week, the S&P dove 2.7 percent, while the Dow plunged 3.0 percent and the NASDAQ plummeted 3.3 percent.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came after the Commerce Department reported an unexpected acceleration in the annual rate of growth by core consumer prices in January.

The unexpected spike in core consumer prices added to recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates as the Federal Reserve may be inclined to leave interest rates higher for longer.

After coming under pressure early in the session, the price of crude oil showed a big turnaround over the course of the trading day on Friday. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery jumped $0.93 or 1.2 percent to $76.32 after falling as low as $74.09 a barrel in early trading.