Oversold China Bourse Nonetheless Called Lower On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in five straight sessions, sinking almost 100 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,230-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on concerns over the outlook for interest rates, while financial shares are especially likely to fall under pressure. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian markets are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday with damage across the board, especially from the financials, properties and resource stocks.

For the day, the index retreated 46.01 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 3,230.08 after trading between 3,229.50 and 3,262.15.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.91 percent, while Bank of China retreated 1.49 percent, China Construction Bank slumped 1.20 percent, China Merchants Bank declined 1.55 percent, Bank of Communications weakened 1.38 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.00 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 2.50 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.33 percent, Yankuang Energy tumbled 1.79 percent, PetroChina plummeted 2.33 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) stumbled 1.88 percent, Huaneng Power sank 1.64 percent, China Shenhua Energy lost 1.51 percent, Gemdale shed 1.79 percent, Poly Developments was down 1.04 percent and China Vanke surrendered 1.80 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests consolidation as the major averages spent the morning session relatively unchanged but plummeted in the afternoon, finishing near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 345.26 points or 1.07 percent to finish at 31,909.64, while the NASDAQ tumbled 199.51 points or 1.76 percent to close at 11,138.89 and the S&P 500 slumped 56.73 points or 1.45 percent to end at 3,861.59.

The weakness on Wall Street came as concerns about the potential fallout from the implosions of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Silvergate Capital triggered a sell-off in the financial sector.

Investors also digested the crucial non-farm payroll data for the month of February. The data showing an acceleration in U.S. job growth raised concerns the Fed will continue to remain aggressive with regard to interest rate hikes.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday on Russia's decision to trim oil output by 500,000 barrels per day in March. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $0.96 or 1.3 percent at $76.68 a barrel, rebounding after three successive days of losses.