(RTTNews) – The China stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after snapping the three-day winning streak in which it had gained almost 50 points or 1.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,700-point plateau although it may had back those gains on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a cloudy outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the property and resource stocks were capped by weakness from the financial sector.
For the day, the index gained 30.33 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 3,696.77 after trading between 3,658.38 and 3,702.26. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 39.11 points or 1.73 percent to end at 2,300.77.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China tumbled 1.82 percent, while Bank of China tanked 2.15 percent, Agricultural Bank of China slumped 1.01 percent, China Merchants Bank skidded 1.10 percent, Bank of Communications stumbled 2.24 percent, China Life Insurance accelerated 3.65 percent, Jiangxi Copper spiked 2.51 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 4.05 percent, Yankuang Energy slid 0.15 percent, PetroChina fell 0.23 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dipped 0.18 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.14 percent, Gemdale soared 3.88 percent, Poly Developments rallied 1.75 percent, China Vanke jumped 1.56 percent and China Shenhua Energy was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and stayed that way throughout the session, ending on opposite sides of the unchanged line.
The Dow added 34.82 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 44,946.12, while the NASDAQ sank 87.72 points or 0.40 percent to close at 21,622.98 and the S&P 500 fell 18.74 points or 0.29 percent to end at 6,449.80. For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent, the S&P gained 0.9 percent and the Dow jumped 1.7 percent.
The weakness in the broader markets followed the release of mixed batch of U.S. economic data, which has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for the economy and interest rates.
While the Commerce Department said retail sales increased in line with estimates in July, the University of Michigan noted an unexpected deterioration in consumer sentiment in August.
On the inflation front, year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 4.9 percent in August from 4.5 in July, while the Labor Department said import prices increased more than expected last month and the Federal Reserve saw a slight pullback by industrial production in July.
Crude oil traded lower on Friday ahead of the meeting between the presidents of the U.S. and Russia, which ultimately accomplished nothing. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.20 or 1.88 percent at $62.76 per barrel.
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