China Bourse May Spin Its Wheels On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday ended the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 45 points or 1.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 4,000-point plateau and it may sink further on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns about an artificial intelligence bubble. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourse were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the financials and resource stocks, support from the oil companies and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index slipped 10.20 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 3,997.56 after trading between 3,993.69 and 4,012.01. The Shenzhen Composite Index fell 7.65 points or 0.30 percent to end 2,519.29.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China both were down 0.49 percent, Bank of China fell 0.35 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.40 percent, Bank of Communications sank 0.41 percent, China Life Insurance and China Shenhua Energy both shed 0.59 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.20 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skidded 1.01 percent, Yankuang Energy lost 0.64 percent, PetroChina rallied 1.25 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.08 percent, Huaneng Power slid 0.24 percent, Gemdale slipped 0.26 percent, Poly Developments perked 0.14 percent and China Vanke was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cloudy as the major averages spent most of Friday under water before a late push salvaged a mixed close.

The Dow added 74.80 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 46,987.10, while the NASDAQ sank 49.46 points or 0.21 percent to close at 23,004.54 and the S&P 500 rose 8.48 points or 0.13 percent to end at 6,728.80.

For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ plunged 3.0 percent, while the S&P 500 tumbled 1.7 percent and the Dow slumped 1.2 percent.

The recovery in afternoon trading reflected optimism about an end to the prolonged government shutdown following an offer from top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer - although Republicans turned the offer down later in the day.

Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from the University of Michigan showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. has deteriorated much more than anticipated in November; consumers are now expressing worries about potential negative economic consequences of the shutdown as the stalemate exceeds one month.

Crude oil prices saw modest gains on Friday as a weakening dollar was offset by reports of oversupply and low demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.38 or 0.64 percent at $59.81 per barrel.