China Stock Market Poised To Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, retreating almost 85 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 2,915-point plateau although it's expected to stop the bleeding on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, fueled by solid earnings news among technology shares. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply higher and the Asian markets are also tipped to open in the green.

The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the properties and resource stocks, while the financial shares came in mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 66.98 points or 2.25 percent to finish at 2,915.93 after trading between 2,908.98 and 2,974.24. The Shenzhen Composite Index tumbled 66.18 points or 3.40 percent to end at 1,879.20.

Among the actives, Bank of China advanced 0.99 percent, while China Merchants Bank tanked 2.47 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.22 percent, China Life Insurance tumbled 2.47 percent, Jiangxi Copper surrendered 2.59 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plummeted 3.69 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.23 percent, PetroChina sank 0.78 percent, Huaneng Power plunged 5.12 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.10 percent, Gemdale stumbled 4.29 percent, Poly Developments retreated 2.36 percent, China Vanke slumped 3.69 percent, China Fortune Land crashed 5.60 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but accelerated throughout the day, ending near session highs.

The Dow surged 828.50 points or 2.59 percent to finish at 32,861.80, while the NASDAQ soared 309.75 points or 2.87 percent to end at 11,102.45 and the S&P 500 jumped 93.76 points or 2.46 percent to close at 3,901.06.

For the week, the Dow spiked 5.7 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 4.0 percent and the NASDAQ rallied 2.2 percent.

Traders reacted positively to strong earnings news from the likes of semiconductor giant Intel (INTC), Apple (AAPL) and energy giant Exxon Mobil (XOM).

Buying interest may also have been generated by a Commerce Department report showing core consumer price growth accelerated less than expected in September - which may encourage the Federal Reserve to slow the pace of its interest rate hikes.

Oil prices drifted lower on Friday as worries about the outlook for energy demand resurfaced due to increased Covid-19 restrictions in parts of China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December slumped $1.18 or 1.3 percent at $87.90 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained more than 3 percent in the week.

Closer to home, China will see October results for its manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs from the National Bureau of Statistics later this morning. In September, the manufacturing index had a score of 50.1 and the non-manufacturing score was 50.6.