China Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

Separated by a weeklong holiday break, the China stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, advancing more than 55 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,590-point plateau although it may open under pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft following disappointing jobs data out of the United States, although support from crude oil is expected to limit the downside. The European and U.S. markets saw mild losses and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the financials and oil companies were limited by weakness from the resource stocks and energy producers – while the properties were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 24.00 points or 0.67 percent to finish at 3,592.17 after trading between 3,571.73 and 3,612.55. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 18.87 points or 0.79 percent to end at 2,413.92.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 1.07 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.66 percent, China Construction Bank gathered 1.17 percent, China Merchants Bank advanced 0.95 percent, Bank of Communications perked 1.11 percent, China Life Insurance surged 5.03 percent, Jiangxi Copper shed 0.49 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.58 percent, Yanzhou Coal plunged 6.17 percent, Huaneng Power plummeted 10.04 percent, PetroChina soared 4.49 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 2.91 percent, China Shenhua Energy tanked 5.56 percent, Gemdale tumbled 2.95 percent, Poly Developments lost 3.2 percent, China Vanke dipped 0.33 percent, China Fortune Land skyrocketed 9.98 percent and Beijing Capital Development spiked 0.96 percent.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as the major averages spent most of Friday’s session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally heading lower towards the end of the day.

The Dow eased 8.65 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 34.746.25, while the NASDAQ sank 74.46 points or 0.51 percent to close at 14.579.54 and the S&P 500 fell 8.42 points or 0.19 percent to end at 4,391.34. For the week, the Dow rose 1.2 percent, the NASDAQ added 0.1 percent and the S&P perked 0.8 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came after the Labor Department’s closely watched monthly jobs report showed weaker than expected job growth in September, although the jobless rate fell more than anticipated.

The data led to some uncertainty about the outlook for monetary policy, although most economists agree the disappointing job growth will not dissuade the Federal Reserve from scaling back stimulus.

Crude oil futures jumped Friday after surging past $80 a barrel for the first time in seven years amid tighter supplies and signs of increasing demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November jumped $1.05 or 1.3 percent at $79.35 a barrel after climbing to a high of $80.11 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 4.6 percent in the week, gaining for a seventh straight week.