China Stock Market Tipped To Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in five straight sessions, slumping nearly 180 points or 6.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,730-point plateau and it's overdue for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat following strong U.S. employment data, even though it dims the possibility of an interest rate hike next month. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financials.

For the day, the index tumbled 40.59 points or 1.46 percent to finish at 2,730.15 after trading between 2,666.33 and 2,791.68. The Shenzhen Composite Index plunged 46.05 points or 2.99 percent to end at 1,491.70.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.58 percent, while Bank of China and China Construction Bank both climbed 1.17 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.62 percent, Bank of Communications advanced 0.84 percent, China Life Insurance added 0.50 percent, Jiangxi Copper tumbled 2.27 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) sank 0.72 percent, Yankuang Energy perked 0.18 percent, PetroChina lost 0.61 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.68 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 2.00 percent, China Shenhua Energy jumped 1.98 percent, Gemdale strengthened 1.25 percent, Poly Developments improved 1.41 percent, China Vanke rose 0.53 percent, Haitong Securities slumped 0.59 percent and Industrial Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but consistently trended upward and finished well into the green, with the Dow and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs.

The Dow climbed 134.62 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 38,654.42, while the NASDAQ surged 267.35 points or 1.74 percent to end at 15,628.95 and the S&P 500 jumped 52.42 points or 1.07 percent to close at 4,958.61. For the week, the NASDAQ shot up 1.1 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 both jumped 1.4 percent.

The extended rally on Wall Street came amid a positive reaction to earnings news from Facebook parent Meta Platforms (META) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN).

Traders were also reacting to the closely watched report from the Labor Department showing much stronger than expected job growth in January.

The data further reduces the chances of an interest rate cut in March, but a strong jobs market is viewed as a good thing for the stock market and the economy.

Oil prices fell sharply on Friday as hopes of an early rate cut by the Federal Reserve faded after data showed a bigger than expected increase in U.S. non-farm payroll employment in January. The dollar's sharp uptick after the jobs data also weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $1.54 or about 2.1 percent at $72.28 a barrel. The contract shed more than 7 percent in the week.