BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market has finished higher in eight straight sessions, advancing almost 140 points or 3.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,960-point plateau, although investors may lock in gains on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for little movement with perhaps a touch of weakness in thin trade between the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday as gains from the resource stocks were capped by weakness from the financial shares and propertied.
For the day, the index rose 4.06 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 3,963.68 after trading between 3,945.52 and 3,977.71. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 8.11 points or 0.32 percent to end at 2,541.94.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 0.64 percent, while Bank of China sank 0.71 percent, Agricultural Bank of China dropped 0 .92 percent, China Merchants Bank dipped 0.19 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.28 percent, China Life Insurance shed 0.55 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged by the 10 percent daily limit, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skyrocketed 8.03 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.67 percent, PetroChina rose 0.20 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 1.03 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 1.25 percent, China Shenhua Energy eased 0.15 percent, Poly Developments slipped 0.32 percent, China Vanke fell 0.42 percent and Gemdale was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests slight consolidation as the major averages hugged the line on Friday and finished very slightly under water.
The Dow shed 29,19 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 48,710.97, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.21 points or 0.09 percent to close at 23,593.10 and the S&P 500 eased 2.11 points or 0.03 percent to end at 6,929.94.
For the week, the S&P 500 shot up 1.4 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both jumped 1.2 percent.
The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, leading to below average trading activity.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves following the recent upward trend, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs.
Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday on supply concerns due to the intensifying conflict between the United States and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $1.41 or 2.42 percent at $56.94 per barrel.
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