Win Streak May Continue For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering more than 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,270-point plateau and it's expected to see continued strength on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on good inflation news and an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the resource and energy stocks were capped by weakness from the financial shares and properties.

For the day, the index gained 11.61 points or 0.36 percent to finish at 3,272.86 after trading between 3,260.04 and 3,278.42. The Shenzhen Composite Index advanced 16.47 points or 0.78 percent to end at 2,124.76.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China retreated 1.33 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.59 percent, China Construction Bank fell 0.34 percent, China Merchants Bank dipped 0.23 percent, Bank of Communications slid 0.39 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.22 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.20 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) spiked 2.41 percent, Yankuang Energy eased 0.03 percent, PetroChina declined 1.33 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.36 percent, Huaneng Power added 0.47 percent, China Shenhua Energy was up 0.14 percent, Gemdale dropped 0.94 percent, Poly Developments tumbled 1.94 percent and China Vanke plunged 2.31 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is solid as the major averages opened higher on Friday and picked up steam as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 415.15 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,274.15, while the NASDAQ jumped 208.41 points or 1.73 percent to end at 12,221.91 and the S&P 500 rallied 58.48 points or 1.44 percent to close at 4,109.31.

For the week, the S&P soared 3.5 percent, the NASDAQ accelerated 3.4 percent and the Dow climbed 3.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Commerce Department report showing an unexpected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth.

With this inflation reading said to be preferred by the Fed, the data led to some optimism the central bank will hold off on raising interest rates at its next meeting in early May.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on falling supplies and optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.30 or 1.8 percent at $75.67 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9.2 percent in the week but dropped 1.8 percent in March and 6 percent in Q1.