China Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Friday

The China stock market headed south again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 40 points or 1.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just shy of the 3,170-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with earnings news possibly steering the markets. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the oil and energy companies were mitigated by support from the financials and properties.

For the day, the index dropped 29.31 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 3,169.52 after trading between 3,165.67 and 3,209.06. The Shenzhen Composite Index sank 21.44 points or 1.05 percent to end at 2,015.65.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.44 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.27 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.34 percent, China Merchants Bank gained 0.35 percent, Bank of Communications improved 0.72 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.84 percent, Jiangxi Copper dropped 0.97 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) climbed 1.03 percent, Yankuang Energy fell 0.38 percent, PetroChina declined 1.47 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) plunged 2.45 percent, Huaneng Power tanked 2.05 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 0.72 percent, Gemdale perked 0.29 percent, Poly Developments was up 0.08 percent, China Vanke eased 0.14 percent and China Fortune Land advanced 0.90 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent and uninspiring as the major averages opened and closed mixed on Thursday; the Dow opened higher and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ and S&P opened lower and remained in the red throughout.

The Dow climbed 163.97 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 35,225.18, while the NASDAQ tumbled 294.71 points or 2.05 percent to close at 14,063.31 and the S&P 500 sank 30.85 points or 0.68 percent to end at 4,534.87.

The sharp pullback by the Nasdaq came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from companies like Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA). On the other hand, the narrower Dow benefitted from a spike from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) after solid earnings news.

Traders also reacted to a Labor Department report showing that first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly dipped last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday and lifted the August series futures contract to a positive close on the expiration day amid fears of declining supplies from Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August settled at $75.63 a barrel, gaining $0.28 or 0.4 percent.