Renewed Support Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market finished lower again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had eased six points or 0.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,040-point plateau although it figures to open higher again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on renewed optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the resource stocks, gains from the energy companies and mixed performances from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index lost 14.31 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 3,038.97 after trading between 3,027.09 and 3,044.00. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 8.10 points or 0.42 percent to end at 1,903.80.

Among the actives, China Construction Bank collected 0.47 percent, while China Merchants Bank retreated 1.63 percent, Bank of Communications perked 0.17 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 3.41 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.07 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) declined 1.56 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.15 percent, PetroChina eased 0.14 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was up 0.19 percent, Huaneng Power advanced 0.93 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 1.24 percent, Gemdale added 0.18 percent, Poly Developments dropped 0.89 percent, China Vanke sank 0.59 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and continued to advance as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 391.20 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 34,283.10, while the NASDAQ rallied 276.71 points or 2.05 percent to end at 13,798.11 and the S&P 500 jumped 67.89 points or 1.56 percent to close at 4,415.24. For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 2.4 percent, the S&P 500 rose 1.3 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders shrugged off concerns about the outlook for interest rates sparked by remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday. Powell said the Fed is unsure rates are at a restrictive level to bring inflation down to 2 percent and warned the central bank would not hesitate to resume raising rates.

Despite Powell's comments, CME Group's FedWatch Tool currently still suggests the Fed is likely to leave interest rates over the next several months before cutting rates in mid-2024.

Stocks initially benefited from a pullback by treasury yields, which surged in afternoon trading on Thursday following a disappointing 30-year bond auction as well as Powell's comments. But the major averages continued to advance over the even though yields rebounded.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday, but the most active oil futures contract still suffered a third weekly loss as the disruption threats continued to fade. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $1.43 or 1.9 percent at $77.17 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed more than 4 percent in the week.