China Stock Market May Extend Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday ended the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 40 points or 1.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,420-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on bargain hunting, especially among the oil and technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

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

For the day, the index jumped 60.83 points or 1.81 percent to finish at 3,419.56 after trading between 3,360.61 and 3,421.23. The Shenzhen Composite Index rallied 42.41 points or 2.05 percent to end at 2,109.37.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.30 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.56 percent, China Construction Bank perked 0.24 percent, China Merchants Bank rallied 3.01 percent, Agricultural Bank of China was up 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance surged 5.83 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.27 percent, Yankuang Energy eased 0.15 percent, PetroChina increased 0.26 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.22 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.59 percent, China Shenhua Energy dipped 0.13 percent, Gemdale spiked 4.11 percent, Poly Developments accelerated 2.24 percent, China Vanke soared 2.59 percent and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened sharply higher on Friday and continued to accelerate as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 674.62 points or 1.65 percent to finish at 41,488.19, while the NASDAQ rallied 451.07 points or 2.61 percent to close at 17,754.09 and the S&P 500 jumped 117.42 points or 2.13 percent to end at 5,638.94.

For the week, the Dow plunged 3.1 percent, the NASDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 2.3 percent.

The rally on Wall Street saw traders pick up stocks at reduced levels after the steep drop on Thursday, which dragged the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 down to their lowest closing levels in six months - and also sending the S&P into correction territory.

In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a substantial deterioration in consumer sentiment and a surge by inflation expectations in the month of March.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday as worries about excess supply in the market eased after the U.S. government announced fresh sanctions on Iranian oil and shipping. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $0.63 or 1 percent at $67.18 a barrel.

Closer to home, China is scheduled to release a raft of data this morning, including industrial production, retail sales, fixed asset investment, house prices and unemployment.

Industrial production is expected to rise 5.4 percent on year, down from 6.2 percent in January. Retail sales are seen higher by an annual 4.0 percent, up from 3.7 percent in the previous month. Fixed asset investment is tipped to climb 3.8 percent on year, up from 3.2 percent a month earlier. House prices fell an annual 5.0 percent in January, while the jobless rate was 5.1 percent.