China Bourse May See Profit Taking On Friday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 70 points or 3.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,075-point plateau although investors may cash in on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a lack of catalysts, while concerns over the outlook for interest rates continue to persist. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and mixed performances from the property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index rose 2.84 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 3,074.22 after trading between 3,057.76 and 3,102.55. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 1.83 points or 0.11 percent to end at 1,698.82.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China added 0.36 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.64 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.27 percent, China Merchants Bank climbed 1.05 percent, Bank of Communications strengthened 1.33 percent, China Life Insurance soared 3.30 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged 5.34 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skidded 1.21 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.51 percent, PetroChina tanked 2.84 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 1.51 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 4.28 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 1.29 percent, Gemdale declined 1.22 percent, Poly Developments rallied 1.24 percent and China Vanke plummeted 3.10 percent.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, finished mixed with a downside bias.

The Dow rose 22.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 37,775.38, while the NASDAQ slumped 81.87 points or 0.52 percent to close at 15,601.50 and the S&P 500 sank 11.09 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,011.12.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. However, buying interest waned over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in April.

Also, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback by existing home sales in the U.S. last month.

Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.