China Stock Market May Run Out Of Steam On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 50 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,310-point plateau although it's likely to be stuck in neutral on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak thanks to rising crude oil prices and tumbling technology stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the resource stocks and mixed performances from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index gained 13.65 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 3,309.75 after trading between 3,217.42 and 3,315.66. The Shenzhen Composite Index improved 12.20 points or 0.56 percent to end at 2,173.14.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.10 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.65 percent, China Construction Bank advanced 1.00 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.56 percent, Bank of Communications jumped 1.91 percent, China Life Insurance added 0.66 percent, Jiangxi Copper improved 1.03 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.25 percent, Yankuang Energy gained 0.64 percent, PetroChina retreated 1.41 percent, Huaneng Power plummeted 6.24 percent, China Shenhua Energy strengthened 1.24 percent, Gemdale gathered 1.28 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.43 percent, China Vanke sank 0.72 percent, China Fortune Land was up 0.68 percent, Beijing Capital Development eased 0.19 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened higher on Friday but were unable to hold on to their gains and finished firmly in the red.

The Dow skidded 229.91 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 32,944.19, while the NASDAQ tumbled 286.19 points or 2.18 percent to end at 12,843.81 and the S&P 500 sank 55.21 points or 1.30 percent to close at 4.204.31. For the week, the Dow shed 2 percent, the NASDAQ lost 3.5 percent and the S&P fell 2.9 percent.

Rising worries about the economic impact of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine war and the various sanctions imposed on Russia by the U.S. and the Western allies rendered the mood bearish.

In economic news, the University of Michigan noted a bigger than expected drop in U.S. consumer sentiment in March. The report also showed that one-year inflation expectations jumped to 5.4 percent in March from 4.9 percent in February, while five-year inflation expectations held at 3.0 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on concerns about disruptions in supply amid uncertainty about any meaningful progress in talks between Russia and Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $3.31 or 3.1 percent at $109.33 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 5.5 percent in the week.

Closer to home, China will release February figures for foreign direct investment later today; in January, FDI was up 11.6 percent on year.