Additional Support Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 50 points or 1.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,330-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, supported by oil and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the oil companies, financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index gained 17.74 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 3,328.39 after trading between 3,302.62 and 3,330.60.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.93 percent, while Bank of China strengthened 1.53 percent, China Construction Bank spiked 2.82 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.01 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.35 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.15 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.35 percent, Yankuang Energy lost 0.37 percent, PetroChina rallied 2.61 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) soared 3.51 percent, Huaneng Power improved 1.09 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.99 percent, Gemdale gathered 0.73 percent, Poly Developments increased 0.94 percent, China Vanke was up 0.48 percent, China Fortune Land accelerated 1.11 percent and China Merchants Bank was unchanged.

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

The Dow surged 387.37 points or 1.17 percent to finish at 33,390.97, while the NASDAQ rallied 226.01 points or 1.97 percent to end at 11,689.01 and the S&P 500 jumped 64.29 points or 1.61 percent to close at 4,045.64. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 2.6 percent, the S&P gained 1.9 percent and the Dow climbed 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came as traders continued to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. A pullback by treasury yields also generated some buying interest, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note giving ground after jumping to a three-month closing high above 4.0 percent.

Traders also reacted positively to a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a very slight slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. service sector activity in February.

Crude oil prices reversed an early sell-off after the United Arab Emirates denied a report that was thinking of leaving OPEC. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery surged $1.52 or 1.9 percent to $79.68 a barrel. For the week, crude oil spiked 4.4 percent.