BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, sinking more than 45 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,520-point plateau and it figure to open under pressure again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on continuing fears over the outlook for interest rates, with oil and technology stocks expected to lead the way lower. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, resource stocks and properties.
For the day, the index dropped 32.49 points or 0.91 percent to finish at 3,522.57 after trading between 3,514.89 and 3,547.00. The Shenzhen Composite Index retreated 32.04 points or 1.32 percent to end at 2,387.65.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China skidded 1.05 percent, while China Construction Bank dropped 0.98 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 0.88 percent, Bank of Communications fell 0.41 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.74 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.62 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.02 percent, Yankuang Energy surged 3.05 percent, PetroChina plummeted 4.26 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) declined 1.38 percent, Huaneng Power tanked 2.73 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.54 percent, Gemdale lost 0.61 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.13 percent, China Vanke clumped 2.13 percent, China Fortune Land plunged 3.06 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major U.S. markets were down again on Friday, hugging both sides of the unchanged line in the morning before going into freefall in the afternoon to end in the red for the fourth straight session.
For the day, the Dow plummeted 450.02 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 34,265.37, while the NASDAQ plunged 385.10 points or 2.72 percent to close at 13.768.92 and the S&P 500 tumbled 84.79 points or 1.89 percent to end at 4,397.94.
The particularly harsh drop on the NASDAQ was fueled by a weak earnings report from Netflix, which set off a cascade of selling pressure among the other markets.
Surging bond prices also drove the markets lower, exacerbating interest rate concerns; most analysts believe a rate hike of at least 25 basis points from the FOMC is imminent in March.
Oil prices fell finished lower on Friday for the second straight session, although they came up from session lows. Crude's correction continued after touching a seven-year high earlier in the week on demand optimism and short-term supply disruptions. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 0.86 percent at $84.81 per barrel after falling as much as 3.2 percent earlier.
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