BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after snapping the two-day slide in which it had retreated more than 45 points or 0.6 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,560-point plateau although it's likely to tick higher again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid earnings news and support from crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets ended sharply higher and the Asian bourses are also tipped to open in the green.
The SCI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and the property stocks.
For the day, the index eased 3.48 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 3,558.28 after trading between 3,547.18 and 3,569.69.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.21 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank eased 0.17 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.26 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.44 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.04 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged 4.69 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) was down 0.14 percent, Yanzhou Coal declined 1.41 percent, PetroChina dropped 0.87 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.23 percent, Huaneng Power jumped 1.52 percent, China Shenhua Energy tumbled 1.53 percent, Gemdale plunged 3.40 percent, Poly Developments tanked 2.95 percent and China Vanke plummeted 4.48 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and stayed comfortably in the green throughout the session.
The Dow surged 534.75 points or 1.56 percent to finish at 34,912.56, while the NASDAQ spiked 251.79 points or 1.73 percent to close at 14,823.43 and the S&P 500 jumped 74.45 points or 1.71 percent to end at 4,438.26.
The rally on Wall Street came as traders reacted positively to a batch of largely upbeat earnings news from several big-name companies, including UnitedHealth (UNH), Bank of America (BAC) and Morgan Stanley (MS).
Adding to the positive sentiment, the Labor Department said that first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped below 300,000 for the first time in well over a year last week.
Crude oil futures settled higher Thursday as the International Energy Agency (IEA) lifted its global oil demand forecast. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November rose $0.87 or 1.1 percent at $81.31 a barrel, the highest level since October 2014.
Closer to home, China will see September numbers for foreign direct investment later today; in August, FDI jumped 22.3 percent on year.
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