Rebound Expected For China Stock Market

The China stock market has moved lower in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 80 points or 2.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,010-point plateau although it’s likely to bounce higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on rising optimism about the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the properties, gains from the financials and mixed performances from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index sank 13.67 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 3,009.41 after trading between 3,009.12 and 3,038.64. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 18.77 points or 1.00 percent to end at 1.853.38.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.21 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.77 percent, China Construction Bank advanced 0.96 percent, China Merchants Bank improved 0.76 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.88 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 1.87 percent, Jiangxi Copper sank 0.72 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) retreated 1.59 percent, Yankuang Energy added 0.52 percent, PetroChina strengthened 1.26 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.10 percent, Huaneng Power perked 0.13 percent, China Shenhua Energy increased 0.66 percent, Gemdale stumbled 1.18 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.46 percent and China Vanke slumped 1.06 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 564.50 points or 1.70 percent to finish at 33,839.08, while the NASDAQ jumped 232.72 points or 1.78 percent to end at 13,294.19 and the S&P 500 rallied 79.92 points of 1.89 percent to close at 4,317.78.

The rally on Wall Street came on optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed left rates unchanged for the third time in the past four meetings, suggesting the central bank is done raising interest rates.

Treasury yields moved notably lower Wednesday and showed another significant move to the downside today, adding to the buying interest.

Traders will look now to the Labor Department’s closely watched employment report for the month of October, due out later today.

Crude oil futures climbed higher Thursday as the dollar weakened on bets the Federal Reserve is done with its rate hiking cycle. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December rallied $2.02 or 2.5 percent at $82.46 a barrel.