China Shares May Find Traction On Friday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, stumbling almost 25 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,000-point plateau although it's due for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher, with profit taking among the technology stocks likely to cap any upside. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the property stocks were offset by gains from the financials and oil companies.

For the day, the index lost 12.61 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,005.44 after trading between 3,001.77 and 3,028.51. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 31.79 points or 1.88 percent to end at 1,655.85.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.36 percent, while Bank of China rose 0.22 percent, China Construction Bank added 0.56 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.41 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.42 percent, China Life Insurance improved 0.67 percent, Jiangxi Copper dipped 0.21 percent, Yankuang Energy perked 0.17 percent, PetroChina jumped 1.72 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) strengthened 1.65 percent, Huaneng Power advanced 0.88 percent, China Shenhua Energy soared 2.74 percent, Gemdale plummeted 4.28 percent, Poly Developments tumbled 2.59 percent, China Vanke plunged 3.48 percent and Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher, but the NASDAQ and S&P 500 turned lower and finished that way - while the Dow ended in the green.

The Dow rallied 299.90 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 39,134.76, while the NASDAQ stumbled 140.64 points or 0.79 percent to close at 17,721.59 and the S&P sank 13.86 points or 0.25 percent to end at 5,473.17.

While the early strength on Wall Street came amid a continued advanced by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), the subsequent downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 was also led by a significant pullback by the AI darling and market leader.

The downturn by the NASDAQ and the S&P may also have reflected profit taking after the indexes reached new record intraday highs, with the S&P 500 turning lower after climbing above 5,500 for the first time.

In economic news, the Labor Department reported a modest pullback by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week. Also, the Commerce Department noted a steep drop in new U.S. residential construction in May.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday after data showed crude inventories in the U.S. fell slightly more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $0.60 at $82.17 a barrel.