Rally May Stall For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting almost 45 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,270-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with strength from crude oil prices offset by likely profit taking. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the resource stocks were capped by weakness from the properties and financials.

For the day, the index improved 20.35 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 3,273.33 after trading between 3,255.50 and 3,276.55. The Shenzhen Composite Index advanced 20.41 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 2,083.36.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.61 percent, while Bank of China retreated 1.25 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 0.94 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.62 percent, Bank of Communications lost 0.68 percent, China Life Insurance rose 0.34 percent, Jiangxi Copper advanced 0.99 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 3.54 percent, Yankuang Energy improved 0.91 percent, PetroChina perked 0.26 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) eased 0.15 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 2.19 percent, China Shenhua Energy dipped 0.13 percent, Gemdale slid 0.26 percent, Poly Developments gained 0.44 percent, China Vanke declined 1.22 percent and China Fortune Land slumped 0.85 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but slumped late to finish in the red.

The Dow shed 108.98 points or 0.32 percent to finish at 34,299.12, while the NASDAQ dropped 93.23 points or 0.68 percent to close at 13,689.57 and the S&P 500 sank 16.25 points or 0.37 percent to end at 4,409.59.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.3 percent, the S&P 500 jumped2.6 percent and the Dow advanced 1.3 percent.

The late-day weakness on Wall Street reflected profit taking as traders looked to cash in after the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ hit their best closing levels in over a year, while the Dow set a new six-month closing high.

In economic news, inflation expectations edged down to 3.0 percent in June from 3.1 percent in May, again staying within the narrow 2.9-3.1 percent range. The decrease in inflation expectations may add to recent investor optimism that the Federal Reserve won't follow through on its plan to continue raising interest rates.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid hopes about higher refinery demand and that further stimulus in China will help boost growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.16 or 1.6 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.