Continued Volatility Likely For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last eight trading days since the end of the 10-day winning streak in which it had skyrocketed more than 780 points or 27.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite now sits just beneath the 3,260-point plateau and it's expected to at least open to the upside again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian market is upbeat on generally upbeat earnings news. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to also move higher.

The SCI finished sharply higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index rallied 92.18 points or 2.91 percent to finish at 3,261.56 after trading between 3,152.82 and 3,313.98. The Shenzhen Composite Index soared 74.98 points or 4.09 percent to end at 1,906.86.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.48 percent, while China Construction Bank rose 0.36 percent, China Merchants Bank and Poly Developments both strengthened 1.45 percent, Agricultural Bank of China shed 0.40 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 2.15 percent, Jiangxi Copper rallied 2.03 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.47 percent, Yankuang Energy jumped 1.93 percent, PetroChina accelerated 2.28 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) gained 1.08 percent, Huaneng Power increased 1.88 percent, China Shenhua Energy soared 2.42 percent, Gemdale improved 0.75 percent, China Vanke climbed 1.74 percent and Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but moved steadily higher as the day progressed, ending near session highs.

The Dow added 36.86 points or 0.09 percent to finish at a fresh record of 43,275.91, while the NASDAQ climbed 115.94 points or 0.63 percent to end at 18,489.55 and the S&P 500 rose 23.20 points or 0.40 percent to close at 5,864.67. For the week, the Dow added 1.0 percent, the S&P gained 0.9 percent and the NASDAQ rose 0.8 percent.

The NASDAQ benefitted from a sharp increase by shares of Netflix (NFLX), as the streaming giant soared by 11.1 percent to a record closing high after the company reported Q3 results that beat estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of American Express (AXP) limited the upside for the Dow, with the credit card giant tumbling by 3.2 percent after the company reported Q3 earnings that beat expectations but weaker than expected revenues.

In U.S. economic news, the Commerce Department reported a modest pullback by housing starts and building permits in September.

Oil prices fell on Friday following downward revisions in oil demand forecast from OPEC and the International Energy Agency. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for November sank $1.45 or 2.05 percent at $69.22 a barrel. WTI crude futures fell more than 8 percent in the week.