China Bourse May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 80 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,020-point plateau although investors are likely to cash in on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on weak earnings and slightly higher inflation. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, properties and resource stocks.

For the day, the index climbed 29.48 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 3,017.78 after trading between 2,974.88 and 3,029.21. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 33.21 points or 1.82 percent to end at 1,858.61.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.42 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.26 percent, China Construction Bank sank 0.77 percent, China Merchants Bank perked 0.10 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.34 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.33 percent, Jiangxi Copper climbed 1.00 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.67 percent, Yankuang Energy declined 1.37 percent, PetroChina lost 0.40 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 0.72 percent, Huaneng Power surged 4.18 percent, China Shenhua Energy slumped 0.65 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.85 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.09 percent and China Vanke was up 0.52 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and finished the same way.

The Dow tumbled 366.71 points or 1.12 percent to finish at 32,417.59, while the NASDAQ added 47.41 points or 0.38 percent to close at 12,643.01 and the S&P 500 sank 19.86 points or 0.48 percent to end at 4,117.37.

For the week, the Dow dropped 2.1 percent, the S&P 500 slumped 2.5 percent and the NASDAQ stumbled 2.6 percent.

The rebound by the NASDAQ reflected a positive reaction to earnings news from Amazon (AMZN) and semiconductor giant Intel (INTC), which beat estimates - while disappointing earnings from Chevron (CVX) weighed heavily on the Dow.

Traders were also digesting a Commerce Department report showing that consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent in September, matching the increase in August. Economists had expected prices to rise by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday as tensions in the Middle East escalated with Israeli ground forces expanding operations in Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rose $2.33 or 2.8 percent at $85.54 a barrel. WTI crude futures posted a weekly loss of 3.6 percent.