Lower Open Anticipated For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping more than 60 points or 2 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,170-point plateau and it's expected to see continued consolidation again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative after strong U.S. employment data weighed heavily on the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets ended firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, oil companies, property stocks and resource issues.

For the day, the index stumbled 42.87 points or 1.33 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,168.52 after moving as high as 3,220.11. The Shenzhen Composite Index plunged 41.65 points or 2.22 percent to end at 1,837.28.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 0.60 percent, while Bank of China dipped 0.18 percent, China Construction Bank skidded 1.29 percent, China Merchants Bank eased 0.05 percent, Agricultural Bank of China lost 0.78 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 2.18 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.68 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) improved 0.83 percent, Yankuang Energy tanked 2.02 percent, PetroChina sank 0.79 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 1.87 percent, Huaneng Power stumbled 2.81 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 0.99 percent, Gemdale plunged 3.85 percent, Poly Developments retreated 1.97 percent and China Vanke surrendered 3.74 percent

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 696.75 points or 1.63 percent to finish at 41,938.45, while the NASDAQ tumbled 317.27 points or 1.63 percent to close at 19,161.63 and the S&P 500 dropped 91.21 points or 1.54 percent to end at 5,827.04.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of buoyant non-farm payroll data, which raised concerns that the Federal Reserve will likely hold interest rates at current levels or slow down the pace of reductions.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data is also likely to give the Federal Reserve confidence in its plan to gradually lower interest rates over the coming year.

Oil prices rose sharply on Friday, riding on the Biden Administration's decision to impose additional sanctions on Russia's oil exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed higher by $2.65 or 3.6 percent at $76.57 a barrel, the highest settlement in three months.

Closer to home, China will release December figures for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. Imports are expected to slip 1.5 percent on year after shedding 3.9 percent in November. Exports are called higher by an annual 7.3 percent, up from 6.7 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $100.00 billion, up from $97.44 billion a month earlier.