BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 50 points or 1.4 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,500-point plateau although it's likely to rebound again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for a technical rebound after heavy losses and highly speculative trading in the previous session. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.
For the day, the index tumbled 68.17 points or 1.91 percent to finish at 3,505.18 after trading between 3,496.88 and 3,549.54. The Shenzhen Composite Index plummeted 68.16 points or 2.82 percent to end at 2,352.75.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.79 percent, while China Construction Bank skidded 1.04 percent, China Merchants Bank sank 0.75 percent, Bank of Communications eased 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance retreated 1.35 percent, Jiangxi Copper plummeted 7.09 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.70 percent, Yanzhou Coal surrendered 2.61 percent, PetroChina fell 0.48 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 1.24 percent, China Shenhua Energy tumbled 1.88 percent, Gemdale declined 1.50 percent, Poly Developments was down 2.23 percent, China Vanke plunged 3.30 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as stocks opened higher on Thursday and remained in the green throughout the session after two days of weakness.
The Dow climbed 300.19 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 30,603.36, while the NASDAQ gained 66.56 points or 0.50 percent to end at 13,337.16 and the S&P 500 added 36.61 points or 0.98 percent to close at 3,787.38.
The early rally on Wall Street followed a report from the Labor Department showing a bigger than expected drop in first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits last week.
Also, the Commerce Department said economic growth matched estimates in the fourth quarter of 2020, and also that new home sales in the U.S. rebounded in December after falling in four consecutive months.
On the corporate scene, shares of Apple (AAPL) and Tesla (TSLA) slumped after disappointing earnings news, while heavily shorted stocks like GameStop (GME), AMC Entertainment (AMC) and Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) gave back ground after skyrocketing in the previous session.
Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday on worries about the outlook for energy demand due to rising coronavirus cases, tighter lockdown restrictions and delays in vaccine supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $0.51 or 1 percent at $52.34 a barrel.
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