China Stock Market Poised To Add To Its Winnings

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 45 points or 1.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,250-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on better-than-expected inflation data from the United States. The European and U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the oil, energy and property stocks, while the financials were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 10.07 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 3,254.56 after trading between 3,234.12 and 3,257.03. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 2.64 points or 0.13 percent to end at 2,041.41.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.42 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.26 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.35 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.19 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.20 percent, Yankuang Energy surged 5.54 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.54 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) increased 1.14 percent, Huaneng Power lost 0.67 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.04 percent, Gemdale rallied 1.98 percent, Poly Developments advanced 0.93 percent, China Vanke improved 0.34 percent and China Construction Bank, Bank of Communications and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened sharply higher on Thursday but faded as the day progressed, ending just barely in the green.

The Dow added 52.79 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 35,176.15, while the NASDAQ gained 15.97 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,737.99 and the S&P 500 perked 1.12 points or 0.03 percent to end at 4,468.83.

The early rally on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing the annual rate of consumer price inflation accelerated less than expected in July.

While the data reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates unchanged next month, economists suggested sticky core inflation could leave the door open for the Fed to resume raising rates in November.

Oil prices fell from multi-month highs Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China after imports plummeted. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.58 at $$82.82 a barrel.