(RTTNews) - The China stock market moved higher again on Friday, one day after halting the four-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 135 points or 4 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,300-point plateau although it's likely to see renewed selling pressure on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and fairly flat and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the resource stocks and properties.
For the day, the index improved 19.44 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 3,299.70 after trading between 3,276.13 and 3,319.36. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 35.84 points or 1.85 percent to end at 1,974.65.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.65 percent, while Bank of China dropped 0.81 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.61 percent, China Merchants Bank fell 0.53 percent, Agricultural Bank of China skidded 1.03 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.77 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.35 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 3.74 percent, Yankuang Energy eased 0.13 percent, PetroChina slumped 0.71 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 0.62 percent, Huaneng Power and Gemdale both declined 1.09 percent, China Shenhua Energy tumbled 0.87 percent, Poly Developments dipped 0.09 percent and China Vanke added 0.22 percent.
The lead from Wall Street again offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but slumped as the day progressed to end mixed.
The Dow stumbled 259.96 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 42,114.40, while the NASDAQ added 103.12 points or 0.56 percent to close at 18,518.61 and the S&P 500 eased 1.74 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,808.12.
For the week, the Dow tumbled 2.7 percent and the S&P 500 slumped 1.0 percent, but the NASDAQ rose 0.2 percent.
Stocks moved mostly higher early in the session amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for the economy after the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment unexpectedly improved in October.
Buying interest waned over the course of the session, however, as treasury yields rebounded following Thursday's pullback amid lingering concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates slower than previously anticipated.
Oil prices rose sharply on Friday amid worries about geopolitical tensions and for potential output adjustments from OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $1.69 or 2.3 percent at $71.78 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 3.8 percent in the week.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
