China Stock Market Tipped To Halt Its Slide On Friday

The China stock market has finished lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping more than 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,440-point plateau although it may find traction on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, with optimism for economic recovery offset by the latest coronavirus surge in Japan and India. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Thursday as losses from the property sector were offset by support from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financials.

For the day, the index dipped 5.58 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 3,441.28 after trading between 3,426.85 and 3,471.24. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 22.35 points or 0.97 percent to end at 2,276.58.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China eased 0.19 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.31 percent, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.84 percent, Bank of Communications added 0.62 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.03 percent, Jiangxi Copper spiked 3.35 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skyrocketed 9.91 percent, Yanzhou Coal surged 6.77 percent, PetroChina accelerated 3.06 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rallied 2.10 percent, China Shenhua Energy soared 3.02 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.62 percent, Poly Developments fell 0.29 percent, China Vanke dropped 0.89 percent, China Fortune Land tumbled 2.87 percent, Beijing Capital Development sank 1.79 percent and China Construction Bank was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks shrugged off early weakness on Thursday to finish in the green.

The Dow jumped 318.19 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 34,548.53, while the NASDAQ gained 50.42 points or 0.37 percent to end at 13,632.84 and the S&P 500 climbed 34.03 points or 0.82 percent to close at 4,201.62.

The strength on Wall Street followed a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell much more than expected last week.

Later today, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly employment report for April.

Crude oil futures finished lower on Thursday, extending losses from previous session amid worries about outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June were down $0.92 or 1.4 percent at $64.71 a barrel.

Closer to home, China is scheduled to release April numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to surged 42.5 percent on year after jumping 38.1 percent in March. Exports are called higher by an annual 24.1 percent, slowing from 30.6 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is called at $28.1 percent, up from $13.8 percent a month earlier.

China also will see April results for the composite and services PMIs from Caixin; in March, their scores were 54.3 and 53.1, respectively.