China Shares Likely To Head South Again On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,340-point plateau although it's expected to see renewed selling pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower as inflation concerns war with support from oil stocks. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the energy companies, weakness from the properties and mixed performances from the financials and resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 19.79 points or 0.60 percent to finish at 3,338.15 after trading between 3,316.81 and 3,340.08. The Shenzhen Composite Index improved 9.37 points or 0.44 percent to end at 2,137.06.

Among the actives, Bank of China dropped 0.85 percent, while China Construction Bank eased 0.16 percent, China Merchants Bank climbed 1.12 percent, China Life Insurance was down 0.03 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.57 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 2.75 percent, Yankuang Energy shed 0.51 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.77 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.49 percent, Huaneng Power surged 3.65 percent, China Shenhua Energy advanced 0.82 percent, Gemdale slid 0.23 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.66 percent, China Vanke fell 0.25 percent, China Fortune Land sank 0.81 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of Communications were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off early support on Friday, quickly heading south and staying in the red throughout the day.

The Dow tumbled 143.23 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 33,886.47, while the NASDAQ sank 42.83 points or 0.35 percent to close at 12,123.47 and the S&P 500 fell 8.58 points or 0.21 percent to end at 4,137.64. For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 added 0.8 percent and the NASAQ rose 0.3 percent.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street coincided with the release of a report from the University of Michigan showing a jump in inflation expectations in the month of April.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales fell more than expected in March, while the Federal Reserve said U.S. industrial production increased more than expected in March, although the increase was largely due to a spike in utilities output.

Crude oil futures settled modestly higher Friday, lifted by the International Energy Agency's forecast that global crude demand will grow to a record 101.9 million barrels per day this year. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May rose $0.36 or 0.4 percent at $82.52 a barrel.