China Shares Figure To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 80 points or 2.7 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,880-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement and uncertainty thanks to the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the properties and resource stocks, while support from the financials and energy companies limited the downside.

For the day, the index eased 4.67 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 2,881.98 after trading between 2,878.88 and 2,904.17. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 11.35 points or 0.64 percent to end at 1,749.42.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.63 percent, while Bank of China rallied 1.26 percent, China Construction Bank improved 0.77 percent, China Merchants Bank and Yankuang Energy both added 0.56 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.04 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.54 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.11 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) strengthened 1.10 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 0.19 percent, Huaneng Power advanced 0.96 percent, China Shenhua Energy increased 1.11 percent, Gemdale dropped 0.95 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.33 percent, China Vanke sank 0.61 percent and PetroChina was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is of little help as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but then hugged both sides of the line for the rest of the session, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 118.04 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 37,592.98, while the NASDAQ rose 2.58 points or 0.02 percent to close at 14,972.76 and the S&P 500 perked 3.59 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,783.83. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.1 percent, the S&P added 1.8 percent and the Dow rose 0.3 percent.

The Dow was weighed by earnings news from the likes of UnitedHealth (UNH), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Traders were also reacting to a Labor Department report showing U.S. producer prices unexpectedly edged lower in December, adding to recent uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures settled notably higher on Friday as an escalation in tensions in the Middle East raised concerns about delay in supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.66 or 0.9 percent at $72.68 a barrel. For the week, the contract shed about 1.1 percent.