China Shares Predicted To Open In The Green

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday ended the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 1.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,265-point plateau although it figures to resume its upward climb on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on easing concerns over the health of financial sectors. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials, properties and oil companies.

For the day, the index lost 21.00 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 3,265.65 after trading between 3,260.84 and 3,282.74. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 5.33 points or 0.25 percent to end at 2,116.77.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.88 percent, while Bank of China tumble 2.02 percent, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications both skidded 1.16 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 2.19 percent, China Life Insurance slumped 2.03 percent, Jiangxi Copper added 0.36 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) shed 0.53 percent, Yankuang Energy sank 0.89 percent, PetroChina surrendered 2.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) plunged 3.16 percent, Huaneng Power dipped 0.23 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.36 percent, Gemdale lost 0.69 percent, Poly Developments fell 0.62 percent, China Vanke slid 0.32 percent and China Fortune Land rallied 2.00 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as the major averages shook off early weakness, improving as the day progressed to finish solidly in the green.

The Dow climbed 132.33 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 32,237.53, while the NASDAQ added 36.56 points or 0.31 percent to close at 11,823.96 and the S&P 500 rose 22.27 points or 0.56 percent to end at 3,970.99.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.7 percent and the S&P gained 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street came on renewed concerns about the health of the banking sector. U.S.-listed shares of Deutsche Bank (DB) moved sharply lower in early trading amid a spike by the German lender's credit default swaps, while Credit Suisse (CS) and UBS Group (UBS) also came under pressure.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders felt the banking concerns may have been overdone amid optimism the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its tightening cycle.

Crude oil prices fell on Friday, extending losses from the previous session amid concerns that rising interest rates might hurt growth and result in a drop in energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.70 or 1 percent at $69.26 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see February numbers for industrial profits later this morning; in January, profits were up 0.8 percent on year.