China Stock Market Overdue For Support On Friday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, slumping nearly 140 points or 5.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 2,770-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive, with many believing that the heavy selling earlier this week was overdone. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource and energy companies.

For the day, the index sank 17.81 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 2,770.74 after trading between 2,752.78 and 2,805.01. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 7.15 points or 0.46 percent to end at 1,537.75.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.58 percent, while Bank of China skidded 1.16 percent, China Construction Bank slid 0.29 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.94 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.33 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.37 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.22 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 1.93 percent, Yankuang Energy sank 0.88 percent, PetroChina surrendered 2.51 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 1.85 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 3.08 percent, China Shenhua Energy stumbled 2.21 percent, Gemdale lost 0.50 percent, Poly Developments plummeted 3.14 percent, China Vanke slumped 1.67 percent and Haitong Securities plunged 3.07 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday and largely accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow rallied 369.54 points or 0.97 percent to finish at 38,519.84, while the NASDAQ jumped 197.63 points or 1.30 percent to end at 15,361.64 and the S&P 500 gained 60.54 points or 1.25 percent to close at 4,906.19.

The rebound on Wall Street came as traders picked up stocks at reduced levels after Wednesday's selloff. The Federal Reserve signals that an interest rate cut in March is unlikely, but economists believe it is a matter of "when, not if" the central bank will eventually lower rates.

A continued decrease by treasury yields may also have contributed to the buying interest, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note falling to its lowest levels in over a month.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly saw a modest increase last week. Also, the Institute for Supply Management said U.S. manufacturing activity increased in January but continues to indicate contraction.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday with traders following the negotiations of a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, although a possible pick-up in energy demand helped limit the downside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.03 or 2.7 percent at $73.82 a barrel.