Rally May Stall For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing more than 55 points or 1.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 2,955-point plateau although it's due for consolidation on Friday.

The global forecast suggests little movement ahead of the end of the year, although some profit taking is possible. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the properties and resource stocks, while the financials were soft.

For the day, the index rallied 40.09 points or 1.38 percent to finish at 2,954.70 after trading between 2,909.39 and 2,961.65. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 40.87 points or 2.30 percent to end at 1,817.38.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 1.24 percent, while Bank of China declined 1.48 percent, China Construction Bank skidded 1.07 percent, China Merchants Bank spiked 2.53 percent, Bank of Communications slumped 1.20 percent, China Life Insurance surged 4.57 percent, Jiangxi Copper rallied 1.48 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 1.27 percent, Yankuang Energy plunged 2.44 percent, PetroChina sank 0.84 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 0.91 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 1.88 percent, China Shenhua Energy stumbled 1.36 percent, Gemdale skyrocketed 5.48 percent, Poly Developments soared 4.85 percent and China Vanke accelerated 3.44 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but faded as the day progressed, finishing mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 53.58 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 37,710.10, while the NASDAQ dipped 4.04 points or 0.03 percent to close at 15,095.14 and the S&P 500 rose 1.77 points or 0.04 percent to end at 4,783.35.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came after the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week. Also, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales were unexpectedly unchanged in November.

While the data added to optimism about the outlook for interest rates, traders remained reluctant to make significant moves going into the end of the year.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday on easing concerns about trade disruptions after several shipping companies resumed transit via the Red Sea. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended down $2.34 or 3 percent at $71.77 a barrel.