The China stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, collecting almost 35 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,475-point plateau and it may extend its gains on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat thanks to solid earnings news and rising crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, resource stocks and properties.
For the day, the index gained 17.83 points or 0.52 percent to finish at 3,474.90 after trading between 3,447.59 and 3,478.07. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 4.71 points or 0.20 percent to end at 2,305.65.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.38 percent, while Bank of China advanced 0.92 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.14 percent, China Merchants Bank spiked 2.94 percent, Bank of Communications climbed 1.24 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.31 percent, Jiangxi Copper gathered 1.04 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) soared 3.18 percent, Yanzhou Coal jumped 1.55 percent, PetroChina perked 0.72 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 0.94 percent, China Shenhua Energy added 0.67 percent, Gemdale improved 1.06 percent, Poly Developments increased 0.35 percent and China Vanke was up 0.76 percent.
The lead from Wall Street ends up positive after the major averages saw wild fluctuations on Thursday before finally ending firmly in the green.
The Dow jumped 239.98 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 34,060 .36, while the NASDAQ added 31.52 points or 0.22 percent to end at 14,082.55 and the S&P 500 rose 28.29 points or 0.68 percent to close at 4,211.47.
The higher close on Wall Street came following upbeat earnings news from tech giants like Qualcomm (QCOM), Apple (AAPL) and Facebook (FB).
In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits dropped to a new pandemic-era low last week. Also, the Commerce Department noted an acceleration in the pace of U.S. economic growth in the first three months of 2021.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Thursday amid optimism about the outlook for energy demand following a drop in U.S. petroleum product supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $1.15 or 1.8 percent at $65.01 a barrel.
Closer to home, China will see April results for its manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs from the National Bureau of Statistics later this morning; in March, their scores were 51.9 and 56.3, respectively.
Market Analysis
Win Streak May Continue For China Stock Market
2021-04-30 00:30:15
