China Stock Market May Reverse Thursday's Losses

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Thursday wrote a finish to the two-day winning streak in which it had improved almost 25 points or 0.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,210-point plateau although it may tock back to the upside on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as the U.S. markets were shuttered on Thursday - while the European markets were roughly flat with an upside bias, and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financials and oil companies, gains from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index lost 18.77 points or 0.58 percent to finish at 3,211.39 after trading between 3,205.91 and 3,228.97. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 5.55 points or 0.30 percent to end at 1,878.93.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.74 percent, while Bank of China slumped 1.09 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 0.90 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.71 percent, Agricultural Bank of China sank 0.77 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.46 percent, Jiangxi Copper gained 0.54 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.12 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.11 percent, PetroChina surrendered 2.54 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) tanked 2.58 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 1.84 percent, China Shenhua Energy plunged 3.20 percent, Gemdale increased 0.46 percent, Poly Developments added 0.47 percent and China Vanke eased 0.14 percent.

There is no lead from Wall Street as the U.S. financial markets were closed on Thursday in honor of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died in late December at age 100.

Investors are looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today, which will potentially provide additional clarity about the strength of the labor market.

Oil prices moved higher Thursday amid optimism about the outlook for global oil demand, and potential supply shortage due to the sanctions on Iranian and Russian crude exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled higher by $0.60 or 0.82 percent at $73.92 a barrel.