Soft Start Expected For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 20 points or 0.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,380-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the property and resource stocks, while the banks were soft and the insurance companies were up.

For the day, the index improved 28.33 points or 0.85 percent to finish at 3,379.11 after trading between 3,339.03 and 3,381.06. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 32.09 points or 1.56 percent to end at 2,088.82.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China surrendered 2.12 percent, while Bank of China slumped 1.62 percent, China Construction Bank declined 1.59 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.08 percent, Agricultural Bank of China tumbled 1.71 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.69 percent, Ping An Insurance improved 1.64 percent, Jiangxi Copper fell 0.33 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.53 percent, PetroChina dipped 0.25 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.45 percent, China Shenhua Energy tanked 2.29 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.30 percent, China Vanke strengthened 1.33 percent and Poly Developments, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and Yankuang Energy were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened slightly lower on Friday but headed steadily lower throughout the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow plummeted 748.63 points or 1.69 percent to finish at 43,428.02, while the NASDAQ stumbled 438.36 points or 2.20 percent to close at 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 sank 104.39 points or 1.71 percent to 6,013.13. For the week, the Dow and the NASDAQ both dropped 2.5 percent, while the S&P tumbled 1.8 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than expected in February.

The substantial deterioration by consumer sentiment came amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations, which spiked to 4.3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since November 2023.

Oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil's decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.