Lower Open Predicted For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in consecutive trading days, slumping almost 110 points or 3.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite now sits just above the 3,330-point plateau and it may take further damage on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were own and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the properties and mixed performances from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index stumbled 49.11 points or 1.45 percent to finish at the daily low of 3,330.73 after peaking at 3,391.32. The Shenzhen Composite Index plummeted 49.62 points or 2.41 percent to end at 2,010.61.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.33 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.41 percent, China Merchants Bank shed 0.63 percent, Agricultural Bank of China rose 0.21 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.34 percent, Jiangxi Copper dropped 0.95 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.38 percent, Yankuang Energy eased 0.06 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.80 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.25 percent, China Shenhua Energy rallied 1.34 percent, Gemdale plunged 4.70 percent, Poly Developments stumbled 2.60 percent, China Vanke plummeted 2.68 percent and China Construction Bank and PetroChina were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and only weakened further as the day progressed.

The Dow plunged 305.87 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 43,444.99, while the NASDAQ plummeted 427.53 points or 2.24 percent to close at 18,680.12 and the S&P 500 dropped 78.55 points or 1.32 percent to end at 5,870.62. For the week, the NASDAQ shed 3.2 percent, the S&P sank 2.1 percent and the Dow fell 1.2 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid concerns about the outlook for interest rates following Federal Reserve Chair Powell's recent remarks suggesting the central bank doesn't need to hurry to lower rates. Citing the strength of the U.S. economy, Powell said the Fed can take a careful approach to future monetary policy decisions.

Potentially adding to concerns economic strength will lead the Fed to hold off on future rate cuts, the Commerce Department released a report showing retail sales increased by slightly more than expected in October.

Oil futures plummeted Friday on concerns about the outlook for demand, recent data showing an increase in U.S. crude inventories and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.68 or 2.45 percent at $67.02 a barrel; they shed 5 percent in the week.