BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 35 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,500-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on good economic data, solid earnings news and an uptick in the price of crude oil. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished slightly lower on Friday as losses from the oil and insurance companies were mitigated by support from the financials and properties.
For the day, the index slid 5.53 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 3,496.33 after trading between 3,492.96 and 3,536.54. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 20.74 points or 0.88 percent to end at 2,332.53.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 2.17 percent, while Bank of China climbed 1.26 percent, China Construction Bank spiked 4.37 percent, China Merchants Bank accelerated 2.32 percent, Bank of Communications jumped 1.57 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.56 percent, Jiangxi Copper plummeted 3.32 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) gained 1.22 percent, Yanzhou Coal eased 0.12 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) sank 0.75 percent, China Shenhua Energy tumbled 1.98 percent, Gemdale soared 3.50 percent, Poly Developments gathered 2.77 percent, China Vanke surged 3.55 percent and PetroChina and China Fortune Land were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is solid as stocks opened higher on Friday and largely remained that way, extending recent gains.
The Dow added 92.38 points or 0.30 percent to finish at 31,148.24, while the NASDAQ gained 78.55 points or 0.57 percent to end at 13,856.30 and the S&P 500 rose 15.09 points or 0.39 percent to close at 3,886.83. For the week, the Dow added 3.9 percent, the NASDAQ surged 6 percent and the S&P spiked 4.6 percent.
The continued strength on Wall Street came after the Labor Department reported a modest rebound in employment in January.
Traders may see the uptick in employment as a goldilocks situation as the modest increase offsets concerns of a prolonged slump but also suggests the economy could benefit from more fiscal stimulus.
The markets continued to benefit from upbeat news on the earnings front, with Ford (F), Estée Lauder (EL), Activision Blizzard (ATVI) and Gilead Sciences (GILD) all moving higher after reporting their quarterly results.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday on hopes energy demand will increase as the vaccination drive picks up momentum, and on output cuts by the oil cartel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.62 or 1.1 percent at $56.85 a barrel.
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