China Stock Market Likely To Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the eight-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 300 points or 10.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,015-point plateau and it may see additional support on Friday.

The global forecast is upbeat on encouraging inflation data from the United States. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index rallied 57.32 points or 1.94 percent to finish at 3,015.17 after trading between 2,943.62 and 3,015.17. The Shenzhen Composite Index surged 55.49 points or 3.36 percent to end at 1,706.98.

Among the actives, Bank of China rose 0.22 percent, while China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China both collected 0.72 percent, China Merchants Bank was up 0.06 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.16 percent, China Life Insurance climbed 1.10 percent, Jiangxi Copper improved 1.19 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 1.51 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.65 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.97 percent, Huaneng Power sank 0.79 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 1.03 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.65 percent, Poly Developments added 0.51 percent, China Vanke gained 1.11 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and PetroChina were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher but quickly faded before later accelerating into the green to end near session highs.

The Dow added 47.37 points or 0.12 percent to finish at 38,996.39, while the NASDAQ jumped 144.18 points or 0.90 percent to end at 16,091.92 and the S&P 500 gained 26.51 points or 0.52 percent to close at 5,096.27.

The strength on Wall Street followed the release of a highly anticipated Commerce Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased in line with estimates in January.

The inflation readings are said to be favored by the Federal Reserve, and the data generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other U.S. economic news, the Labor Department noted a bigger than expected increase in weekly jobless claims, while the National Association of Realtors unexpectedly saw a sharp pullback by pending home sales in January.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday as concerns about reduced fuel demand outweighing hopes for the likely extension of production cuts by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April fell $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.

Closer to home, China's National Bureau of Statistics will release February figures for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite indexes later this morning. In January, their scores were 49.2, 50.7 and 50.9, respectively.