BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had fallen nearly 35 points or 1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,630-point plateau and it's expected to extend its losses on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on omicron coronavirus concerns and sinking oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday as the property, energy and financial shares were mostly in the red.
For the day, the index retreated 42.65 points or 1.16 percent to finish at 3,632.36 after trading between 3,631.66 and 3,673.65. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 36.16 points or 1.41 percent to end at 2,523.15.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications both dipped 0.22 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank eased 0.17 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.84 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.56 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.22 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.33 percent, Yankuang Energy Group gained 0.45 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.47 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 4.27 percent, China Shenhua Energy tanked 3.59 percent, Gemdale was up 0.09 percent, Poly Developments slid 0.28 percent, China Vanke retreated 1.31 percent, China Fortune Land tumbled 1.68 percent, Beijing Capital Development declined 1.26 percent and PetroChina and China Minsheng Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on a volatile Friday. The NASDAQ peeked briefly into the green but the markets all still finished in the red.
The Dow plunged 532.16 points or 1.48 percent to finish at 35,365.44, while the NASDAQ dipped 10.72 points or 0.07 percent to close at 15,169.68 and the S&P 500 sank 48.03 points or 1.03 percent to end at 4,620.64. For the week, the NASDAQ plunged 2.9 percent, the Dow lost 1.7 percent and the S&P was down 1.9 percent.
The volatility on Wall Street came on a quadruple witching day, with stock options, index options, stock futures and index futures all expiring.
Concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus also weighed on the markets along with worries about ongoing supply chain issues.
Crude oil prices tumbled Friday on concerns for energy demand due to a rapid surge in Omicron variant of the coronavirus and reimposition of restrictions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $1.52 or 2.1 percent at $70.86 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 1.1 percent in the week.
Closer to home, China will see updates for prime rates for one-year and five-year loans; previously, they were 3.85 percent and 4.65 percent, respectively.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2021 AFX News
