BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - The China stock market headed south again on Friday, one day after ending the three-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 75 points or 1.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 4,000-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed support on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, spurred by strong tech support and easing crude oil prices. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.
For the day, the index skidded 40.43 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 3,996.16 after trading between 3,995.81 and 4,074.83. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 33.68 points or 1.24 percent to end at 2,675.49.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages shook off a slow start on Friday and trended slightly higher for the rest of the day, ending near session highs.
The Dow added 149.60 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 52,637.01. while the NASDAQ gained 74.72 points or 0.29 percent to close at 26,281.61 and the S&P 500 rose 31.75 points or 0.42 percent to end at 7,575.39.
For the week, the tech-heavy NASDAQ surged 1.7 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 1.2 percent and the Dow advanced 0.5 percent.
The upward move on Wall Street partly reflected strength among some big-name tech stocks, including Meta Platforms (META), Nvidia (NVDA) and the U.S.-listed debut shares of SK Hynix.
However, traders largely seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the unofficial start of earnings season this week. Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), UnitedHealth (UNH) and Netflix (NFLX) are among the companies due to report their quarterly results.
Crude oil prices slumped on Friday, thanks to efforts by third-party mediators to bring the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiating table. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was down $0.75 or 1.04 percent at $71.33 per barrel.
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