BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market on Friday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 190 points or 6.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,035-point plateau and it's expected to open under pressure again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets remains negative on coronavirus fears and its effect on the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday and now the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and oil and insurance companies.
For the day, the index sank 37.17 points or 1.21 percent to finish at 3,034.51 after trading between 3,029.46 and 3,052.44. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 14.27 points or 0.74 percent to end at 1,915.17,
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.92 percent, while Bank of China lost 0.82 percent, China Construction Bank skidded 1.19 percent, China Merchants Bank plunged 2.26 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 1.29 percent, Ping An Insurance tumbled 1.87 percent, PetroChina fell 0.95 percent, China Shenhua Energy retreated 1.64 percent, Gemdale plummeted 4.60 percent, Poly Developments declined 3.23 percent, China Vanke cratered 3.61 percent and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened sharply lower on Friday. They pulled back from sessions lows as the day progressed but still ended firmly in the red.
The Dow shed 256.50 points or 0.98 percent to end at 25,864,78, while the NASDAQ lost 162.98 points or 1.87 percent to 8,575.62 and the S&P 500 fell 51.57 points or 1.71 percent to 2,972.37. For the week, the Dow added 1.8 percent, the NASDAQ gained 0.1 percent and the S&P rose 0.6 percent.
The early selloff on Wall Street came as traders continue to worry about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Recent data points to a slowdown in new coronavirus infections in China, but the disease seems to be spreading more rapidly around the rest of the world.
The worries about the outbreak overshadowed the Labor Department's usually closely watched monthly employment report - which showed stronger than expected job growth in February, although traders view the data as old news as the coronavirus fears have ramped up only recently.
Crude oil prices plummeted to a multi-year low on Friday after OPEC's proposal for deeper output cuts was rejected by its allies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $4.62 or 10.1 percent at $41.28 a barrel, the lowest settlement since August 2016.
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