China Stock Market May See Additional Support

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday snapped the three-day slide in which it had dropped almost 60 points or 1.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index new sits just above the 3,185-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed, with bargain hunting offset by ongoing concerns over the outlook for the global economy. The European markets were sharply higher and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished barely higher on Friday following gains from the oil companies, losses from the properties and a mixed picture from the financials and energy companies.

For the day, the index perked 1.50 points or 0.05 percent to finish at 3,186.48 after trading between 3,173.79 and 3,198.28. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 9.13 points or 0.44 percent to end at 2,089.74.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.23 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank eased 0.18 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.52 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.22 percent, China Minsheng Bank was up 0.28 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.46 percent, Jiangxi Copper dropped 0.98 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) lost 0.67 percent, Yankuang Energy sank 0.82 percent, PetroChina climbed 1.12 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.71 percent, Huaneng Power soared 4.19 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 1.45 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.97 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.68 percent, China Vanke was down 0.24 percent and China Fortune Land slumped 1.74 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but tumbled in afternoon trade to finish deep in the red.

The Dow plummeted 337.98 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,318.44, while the NASDAQ tumbled 154.26 points or 1.31 percent to close at 11,630.86 and the S&P 500 sank 42.59 points or 1.07 percent to end at 3,924.26.

The volatility on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing U.S. employment increased roughly in line with estimates in August.

Amid recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates, the jobs data was described as a goldilocks report by some economists, coming in neither too hot nor too cold.

A separate report from the Commerce Department unexpectedly showed a sharp pullback in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in July.

Crude oil prices ticked higher Friday on rising prospects for a reduction in output from OPEC and allies. But prices were down for the week amid worries about outlook for energy demand due to concerns about slowing global growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.26 or 0.3 percent at $86.87 a barrel; they were down 6.7 percent in the week.

Closer to home, China will see August results for the services and composite PMIs from Caixin later this morning; in July, their scores were 55.5 and 54.0, respectively.