Lower Open Expected For China Stock Market

(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 fallen more than 30 points or 1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,020-point plateau and it's tipped to open under water again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following heavy losses from the properties, support from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 14.78 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 3,019.47 after trading between 3,014.83 and 3,043.56.

Among the actives, Bank of China rose 0.22 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.72 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.56 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.30 percent, China Life Insurance plunged 3.88 percent, Jiangxi Copper rallied 1.29 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) climbed 1.23 percent, Yankuang Energy lost 0.60 percent, PetroChina added 0.39 percent, Huaneng Power jumped 1.41 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 0.68 percent, Gemdale tumbled 3.80 percent, Poly Developments surrendered 3.30 percent, China Vanke plummeted 4.57 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened lower on Friday and continued to trend lower throughout the day, ending neat session lows.

The Dow plummeted 475.84 points or 1.24 percent to finish at 37,983.24, while the NASDAQ tumbled 267.10 points or 1.62 percent to close at 16,175.09 and the S&P 500 sank 75.65 points or 1.46 percent to end at 5,123.41.

For the week, the Dow dropped 2.5 percent, the S&P lost 1.6 percent and the NASDAQ fell 0.5 percent.

Inflation concerns continued to weigh on the markets as the Labor Department released a report showing import prices in the U.S. increased by slightly more than expected in March, which further dampened hopes for a rate cut from the Federal Reserve in June.

Uninspired earnings and guidance also spooked investors as Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Intel, Amazon and Goldman Sachs all ended firmly under water.

Oil prices moved higher on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for supply due to rising tensions in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.64 at $85.66 a barrel.