Rebound Anticipated For China Stock Market

The China stock market headed south again on Thursday, one session after it had ended the three-day losing streak in which it had tumbled almost 85 points or 2.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,400-point plateau although it figures to bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism for economic recovery and rising crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the property stocks, gains from the resource companies and a mixed performance from the financial sector.

For the day, the index lost 17.73 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 3,398.99 after trading between 3,373.09 and 3,409.61. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 11.93 points or 0.54 percent to end at 2,206.55.

Among the actives, Bank of China shed 0.60 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.28 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.52 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.28 percent, Jiangxi Copper surged 6.71 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) spiked 3.60 percent, Yanzhou Coal jumped 1.48 percent, PetroChina perked 0.47 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.46 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.23 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.63 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.07 percent, China Vanke fell 0.45 percent, China Fortune Land sank 1.08 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as stocks moved sharply higher on Thursday, offsetting losses from the previous session and sending the Dow and the S&P 500 to fresh record closing highs.

The Dow spiked 305.10 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 34,035.99, while the NASDAQ jumped 180.92 points or 1.31 percent to end at 14,038.76 and the S&P 500 gained 45.76 points or 1.11 percent to close at 4,170.42.

The rally on Wall Street followed a batch of largely upbeat U.S. economic data, including a Commerce Department report showing retail sales spiked much more than expected in March. A separate report from by the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits pulled back much more than expected last week.

Also, The National Association of Home Builders noted a modest increase in U.S. homebuilder confidence in April, while the Federal Reserve reported a rebound in industrial production last month.

Oil futures settled higher on Thursday, extending gains to a fourth straight session, continuing to ride on the recent upward revision in the global oil demand forecast by the International Energy Agency. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.31 or 0.5 percent at $63.46 a barrel.

Closer to home, China is scheduled to release a batch of data today, including Q1 numbers for gross domestic product and March figures for industrial production, fixed asset investment, retail sales and unemployment.

GDP is tipped to rise 1.5 percent on quarter and 18.9 percent on year after gaining 2.6 percent on quarter and 6.5 percent on year in the three months prior.

Industrial production is expected to climb 17.2 percent on year after surging 35.1 percent in February. FAI is tipped to jump 25.3 percent after soaring 35 percent in the previous month. Retail sales are expected to slow to 28 percent from 33.8 percent in February, while the jobless rate is called steady at 5.5 percent.