Rally May Stall For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has ticked higher in consecutive trading days, rising almost 7 points or 0.2 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,400-point plateau, although it's likely to be stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower in this holiday-shortened week, with technology stocks likely to be a key drag. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished barely higher on Friday as gains from the properties and energy companies were offset by weakness from the financials and oil stocks.

For the day, the index rose 2.06 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 3,400.14 after trading between 3,388.32 and 3,418.95. The Shenzhen Composite Index perked 4.00 points or 0.20 percent to end at 2,014.96.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.14 percent, while Bank of China was down 0.36 percent, China Construction Bank dropped 0.68 percent, China Merchants Bank sank 0.35 percent, Agricultural Bank of China improved 0.19 percent, China Life Insurance slid 0.42 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.05 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skidded 1.09 percent, Yankuang Energy lost 0.57 percent, PetroChina shed 0.56 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) fell 0.30 percent, Huaneng Power climbed 1.18 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.14 percent, Gemdale strengthened 1.54 percent, Poly Developments gained 0.55 percent and China Vanke added 0.53 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower and remained that way throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 333.59 point or 0.77 percent to finish at 42,992.21, while the NASDAQ slumped 298.37 points or 1.49 percent to close at 19.722.03 and the S&P 500 sank 66.75 points or 1.11 percent to end at 5,970.84.

For the week, the Dow picked up 1.4 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P both advanced 1.5 percent.

The numbers may have been a bit skewed by light volume, with many investors away from their desks on holiday between Christmas and New Year's.

On the economic front, data showed that U.S. retail inventories, excluding autos, increased by 0.6 percent on month in November, following an upwardly revised 0.3 percent rise in the prior month, according to preliminary estimates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday after data showed a sharp drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $70.60 a barrel, gaining about 1.4 percent.