China Shares May Crack 3,300-Point Barrier

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had slumped more than 30 points or 1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,270-point plateau and it may see additional support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests support ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the oil and energy companies and mixed performances from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index climbed 41.17 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 3,270.66 after trading between 3,225.85 and 3,271.43. The Shenzhen Composite Index surged 44.96 points or 2.34 percent to end at 1,964.55.

Among the actives, Bank of China fell 0.38 percent, while China Construction Bank shed 0.48 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.50 percent, Agricultural Bank of China dipped 0.20 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 1.52 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.38 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 2.42 percent, Yankuang Energy slid 0.30 percent, PetroChina added 0.61 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.16 percent, Huaneng Power dropped 0.92 percent, China Shenhua Energy rose 0.33 percent, Gemdale lost 0.44 percent, Poly Developments gained 0.73 percent, China Vanke improved 0.72 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened higher, although the Dow quickly turned lower and spent the rest of the day in the red.

The Dow stumbled 125.65 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 44,747.63, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.66 points or 0.51 percent to close at 19.971.99 and the S&P 500 added 22.09 points or 0.36 percent to end at 6,083.57.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today.

Traders will be watching the numbers, which could affect the Federal Reserve's outlook for interest rates.

A day ahead of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department released a report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week.

Crude oil saw further downside on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his pledge to increase U.S. oil production in an effort to lower prices. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slid $0.42 or 0.6 percent to a one-month low of $70.61 a barrel.