China Shares May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, accelerating more than 150 points or 5.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,910-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of earnings news and a FOMC rate decision and statement later this week. 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 Friday following gains from the financials, properties, resource stocks and energy companies.

For the day, the index perked 4.11 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 2,910.22 after trading between 2,890.48 and 2,924.31. The Shenzhen Composite Index slumped 11.94 points or 0.71 percent to end at 1,678.04.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) both jumped 1.60 percent, while Bank of China surged 3.13 percent, China Construction Bank spiked 2.09 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.71 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.19 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.24 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.38 percent, Yankuang Energy accelerated 1.97 percent, PetroChina skyrocketed 6.38 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 1.19 percent, Huaneng Power soared 2.19 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 1.94 percent, Gemdale gained 4.91 percent, Poly Developments advanced 3.23 percent and China Vanke added 2.41 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday, surged midday but plummeted late in the section to end mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 60.33 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 38,109.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 55.14 points or 0.36 percent to close at 15,455.36 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.19 points or 0.07 percent to end at 4,890.97. For the week, the S&P 500 jumped 1.1 percent, the NASDAQ advanced 0.9 percent and the Dow climbed 0.7 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders weighed disappointing earnings news from semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) against tamer than expected consumer price inflation data.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department released a report before the start of trading showing a bigger than expected slowdown in the annual rate of core consumer price growth in December.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Fed's monetary policy announcement this week. While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will be looking for clues about the timing of highly anticipated rate cuts.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Friday amid optimism about the outlook for oil demand thanks to upbeat U.S. economic data and the Chinese central bank's fresh stimulus. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March added $0.65 or 0.84 percent at $78.01 a barrel. WTI crude futures spiked 6 percent for the week.