China Shares May Tick Higher Again On Friday

The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last seven trading days since the end of the 10-day winning streak in which it had skyrocketed more than 780 points or 27.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,170-point plateau and it nay bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on decent earnings and economic news. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, property stocks and resource and energy companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 33.56 points or 1.05 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,169.38 after moving as high as 3,241.57. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 10.27 points or 0.56 percent to end at 1,831.88.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 1.10 percent, while Bank of China slid 0.98 percent, China Construction Bank weakened 0.96 percent, China Merchants Bank tanked 2.56 percent, Agricultural Bank of China was down 0.80 percent, China Life Insurance fell 0.44 percent, Jiangxi Copper slumped 1.29 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) declined 1.62 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.51 percent, PetroChina sank 0.83 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) retreated 1.37 percent, Huaneng Power stumbled 2.12 percent, China Shenhua Energy dropped 1.30 percent, Gemdale plummeted 9.98 percent, Poly Developments plunged 9.39 percent and China Vanke skidded 1.30 percent.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but ebbed and flowed as the day progressed, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow climbed 161.35 points or 0.37 percent to finish at a record 43,239.05, while the NASDAQ rose 6.53 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,373.61 and the S&P 500 dipped 1.00 point or 0.02 percent to end at 5,841.47.

Strength among semiconductor stocks supported the markets for much of the session before a late-day pullback, although the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index still ended up 1.0 percent.

The strength in the sector came after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) reported a sharp increase in third quarter profits.

In economic news, Commerce Department said retail sales increased more than expected in September. Also, the Labor Department noted an unexpected pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil futures snapped a four-day losing streak on Thursday, supported by data showing an unexpected drop in crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November added $0.28 or 0.4 percent at $70.67 a barrel.

Closer to home, China is scheduled to release a raft of data on Friday, including Q3 numbers for gross domestic product and September figures for industrial production, retail sales, fixed asset investment and unemployment.

GDP is expected to add 0.5 percent on quarter and 4.6 percent on year after rising 0.7 percent on quarter and 4.7 percent on year in the previous three months.

Industrial output is tipped to gain 4.6 percent on year, up from 4.5 percent in August. Sales are seen higher by an annual 2.5 percent, up from 2.1 percent in the previous month. FAI is expected to rise 3.3 percent on year, easing from 3.4 percent a month earlier. The jobless rate is seen steady at 5.3 percent.