China Stock Market May Run Out OF Steam On Friday

The China stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 85 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,675-point plateau although it’s likely to spin its wheels on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with profit taking expected particularly among the oil and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets finished lower and the Asian markets figure to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the energy companies, financial shares and property stocks were capped by weakness from the property stocks.

For the day, the index advanced 35.47 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 3,673.04 after trading between 3,638.70 and 3,688.40. The Shenzhen Composite Index improved 21.87 points or 0.87 percent to end at 2,543.16.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.43 percent, while Bank of China added 0.33 percent, China Construction Bank gained 0.68 percent, China Merchants Bank rallied 2.09 percent, Bank of Communications rose 0.43 percent, China Life Insurance jumped 1.91 percent, Jiangxi Copper eased 0.04 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tumbled 2.33 percent, Yanzhou Coal plunged 4.33 percent, PetroChina perked 1.40 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.18 percent, Huaneng Power surged 5.88 percent, China Shenhua Energy was up 0.23 percent, Gemdale increased 0.26 percent, Poly Developments spiked 2.21 percent, China Vanke accelerated 2.98 percent and Beijing Capital Development skyrocketed 8.64 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday. The Dow moved into the green for a time before ending flat, while the NASDAQ and S&P 500 finished solidly in the red.

The Dow eased 0.06 points to finish at 25,754.69, while the NASDAQ tumbled 269.62 points or 1.71 percent to close at 15,517.37 and the S&P 500 dropped 33.76 points or 0.72 percent to end at 4,667.45.

The pullback on Wall Street came as traders cashed in on the recent strength in the markets, which saw stocks recover strongly from the post-Thanksgiving sell-off triggered by the detection of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

With concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant easing, traders are now looking ahead to next week’s Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement. Reports suggest the Fed could decide to double the pace of tapering its asset purchase program to $30 billion per month.

In economic news, the Labor Department said first-time jobless claims pulled back by much more than expected last week.

Crude oil settled lower Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand following several countries imposing fresh restrictions on movements to curb the spread of Omicron. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January sank $1.42 or 2 percent at $70.94 a barrel.