BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has climbed higher in four straight sessions, gathering almost 65 points or 2.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 2,975-point plateau and it's looking at another firm lead for Monday's trade.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on growing optimism over an end to the trade dispute between the United States and China. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher on Friday and the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, energy producers and properties.
For the day, the index climbed 25.95 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 2,973.66 after trading between 2,943.01 and 2,980.79. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 5.12 points or 0.31 percent to end at 1,636.96.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.26 percent, while Bank of China advanced 1.11 percent, China Construction Bank collected 0.98 percent, China Merchants Bank soared 3.36 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 1.78 percent, Ping An Insurance jumped 1.58 percent, PetroChina gathered 1.31 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) perked 1.60 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.58 percent, Gemdale rose 0.16 percent, Poly Developments was up 0.38 percent, China Vanke gained 0.71 percent and CITIC Securities surged 2.46 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks moved sharply higher on Friday, extending recent gains.
The Dow jumped 319.92 points or 1.21 percent to finish at 26,816.59, while the NASDAQ spiked 106.26 points or 1.34 percent to 8,057.04 and the S&P 500 climbed 32.14 points or 1.09 percent to 2,970.27. For the week, the Dow and NASDAQ rose 0.9 percent, while the S&P added 0.6 percent.
The rally on Wall Street came as traders expressed continued optimism about U.S.-China trade talks, with President Donald Trump announcing late in the trading day that the two economic powers have reached a 'very substantial phase one deal.'
Trump said the agreement would take about three weeks to write and would likely be signed by both sides by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Chile in November.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday on supply concerns after an Iranian oil tanker exploded in the Red Sea after being hit by missiles launched from Saudi Arabia. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for November ended up $1.15 or 2.2 percent at $54.70 a barrel.
Closer to home, China is on Monday scheduled to release September figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today.
Imports are expected to sink 6.0 percent on year after sliding 5.6 percent in August. Exports are called lower by an annual 2.8 percent after easing 1.0 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is expected to reflect a surplus of $34.75 billion, down from $34.84 billion a month earlier.
China also will see new loan data for September, with forecasts suggesting a total of 1,360.0 billion yen - up from 1,210.0 billion yen in August.
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