China Shares May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing almost 30 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,290-point plateau although it's expected to see selling pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky after inconsistent U.S. employment data. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and oil companies were capped by weakness from the property sector.

For the day, the index rose 7.62 points or 0.23 percent to finish at 3,288.08 after trading between 3,281.73 and 3,315.05. The Shenzhen Composite Index gained 9.95 points or 0.48 percent to end at 2,071.59.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.42 percent, while Bank of China added 0.52 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.33 percent, China Merchants Bank gained 0.58 percent, Bank of Communications dipped 0.18 percent, China Life Insurance eased 0.05 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) fell 0.32 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.47 percent, PetroChina increased 0.53 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.00 percent, Huaneng Power sank 0.78 percent, China Shenhua Energy slid 0.32 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.71 percent, Poly Developments was down 0.28 percent, China Vanke dropped 0.72 percent and Jiangxi Copper was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened higher on Friday and spent most of the day in the green before late selling pressure saw them finish slightly under water.

The Dow dropped 150.28 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 35,0.65.62, while the NASDAQ lost 50.46 points or 0.36 percent to close at 13,909.24 and the S&P 500 sank 23.86 points or 0.53 percent to end at 4,478.03.

For the week, the Dow slumped 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 tumbled 2.3 percent and the NASDAQ plunged 2.9 percent.

The volatility on Wall Street came after the Labor Department released a report showing that employment in the U.S. increased less than expected in July, although the jobless rate surprisingly ticked lower.

Following the mixed report, most economists still expect another pause in interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve next month, although the data has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for rates beyond that.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, extending recent gains amid tightening supply issues after Saudi Arabia and Russia pledged to cut output through next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.27 at $82.82 a barrel.