China Stock Market Due For Profit Taking

The China stock market has tracked higher in six straight sessions, gathering more than 80 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,325-point plateau although investors may cash in on Monday.

There’s not much of a global forecast, as most of the markets in Europe and the United States were closed on Friday for Good Friday. Key U.S. employment data was roughly in line with expectations, suggesting a steady if quiet session.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the properties, losses from the oil companies and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index picked up 15.02 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 3,327.65 after trading between 3,308.06 and 3,328.85. The Shenzhen Composite Index advanced 19.83 points or 0.93 percent to end at 2,158.41.

Among the actives, Bank of China fell 0.29 percent, while China Construction Bank collected 0.33 percent, China Merchants Bank climbed 1.01 percent, Bank of Communications shed 0.38 percent, China Life Insurance advanced 0.93 percent, Jiangxi Copper lost 0.50 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.35 percent, Yankuang Energy slid 0.50 percent, PetroChina sank 0.49 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) tumbled 1.72 percent, Huaneng Power soared 2.90 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 0.64 percent, Gemdale skyrocketed 5.88 percent, Poly Developments rallied 3.42 percent, China Vanke surged 5.19 percent, China Fortune Land spiked 2.48 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Minsheng Bank were unchanged.

There is no lead from Wall Street as the stock and oil markets were closed for Good Friday. The big catalyst for the day, however, was the closely watched U.S. jobs report for March.

The Labor Department said that employment in the U.S. increased roughly in line with forecasts in March as non-farm payroll employment climbed by 236,000 jobs after jumping by an upwardly revised 326,000 jobs in February.

Economists had expected employment to rise by about 240,000 jobs compared to the addition of 311,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Also, the unemployment rate edged down to 3.5 percent in March from 3.6 percent in February; the unemployment rate was expected to be unchanged.

The numbers fall in the butter zone, which is to say good enough to dispel fears of an economic slowdown but not so good as the encourage the Federal Reserve to feel comfortable applying another rate hike anytime soon.