Soft Start Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had risen almost 35 points or 0.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 4,120-point plateau and it may spin its wheels again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with any upside likely limited by inflation concerns and profit taking among oil stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the property stocks and resource companies, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 40.03 points or 0.96 percent to finish at 4,117.05 after trading between 4,064.78 and 4,152.85. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 21.07 points or 0.78 percent to end at 2,683.73.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Huaneng Power both dipped 0.14 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China sank 0.88 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.36 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.30 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.20 percent, Jiangxi Copper and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) both cratered 10 percent, Yankuang Energy fell 0.27 percent, PetroChina vaulted 1.19 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.09 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 1.33 percent, Gemdale tanked 2.99 percent, Poly Developments crashed 4.22 percent, China Vanke stumbled 4.87 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 179.09 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 48,892.47, while the NASDAQ sank 223.30 points or 0.94 percent to end at 23,461.82 and the S&P 500 lost 29.98 points or 0.43 percent to close at 6,939.03.

For the week, the S&P rose 0.3 percent, the NASDAQ dipped 0.2 percent and the Dow fell 0.4 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about inflation after the Labor Department reported that producer prices increased by much more than expected in December.

New tariff threats from President Donald Trump may also have contributed to the negative sentiment, as well as news that Trump announced his intent to nominate former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Crude oil prices slid on Friday as the U.S. dollar index moved higher, while the possibility of diplomatic intervention in the U.S.-Iran conflict also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $0.22 or 0.34 percent at $65.20 per barrel.