China Stock Market May Take Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, slipping almost 35 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index new sits just shy of the 3,260-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on concerns for an economic slowdown and an increase in interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the resource stocks were offset by gains from the energy producers, financials and properties.

For the day, the index shed 19.47 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 3,258.08 after trading between 3,258.06 and 3,286.49. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 28.54 points or 1.28 percent to end at 2,207.99.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.23 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.33 percent, China Merchants Bank added 0.39 percent, China Life Insurance perked 0.11 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.65 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skidded 1.10 percent, Yankuang Energy surged 4.52 percent, PetroChina strengthened 1.37 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gathered 0.24 percent, Huaneng Power skyrocketed by the 10 percent daily limit, China Shenhua Energy rallied 2.48 percent, Gemdale soared 3.97 percent, Poly Developments spiked 3.70 percent, China Vanke improved 1.31 percent, China Fortune Land gained 0.69 percent, Beijing Capital Development jumped 1.36 percent and China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained deep in the red throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 292.26 points or 0.86 percent to finish at 33.706.74, while the NASDAQ plummeted 260.08 points or 2.01 percent to close at 12,705.21 and the S&P 500 slumped 55.26 points or 1.29 percent to end at 4,228.48. For the week, the NASDAQ dove 2.6 percent, the S&P sank 1.2 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked to cash in on recent strength in the markets, which lifted the major averages well off their June lows to their best levels in almost four months.

Traders may also have been moving money out of stocks ahead of this week's economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Remarks by Federal Reserve officials at the annual symposium are likely to be in focus, as traders look for additional clues about the pace of future interest rate hikes.

Oil futures settled modestly higher on Friday but posted a weekly loss due to concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid fears of a possible recession in Europe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $90.77 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see August prime rate numbers for one-year and five-year loans later this morning; in July, they were at 3.7 percent and 4.45 percent, respectively.