Win Streak May Continue For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 35 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite now sits just above the 3,370-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid earnings news and support from crude oil. The European and U.S. markets finished higher and the Asian bourses are expected to continue that trend.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Thursday as gains from the resource and energy companies were offset by weakness from the financial shares and property stocks.

For the day, the index perked 2.41 points or 0.07 percent to finish ta 3,370.40 after trading between 3,348.86 and 3,378.52. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.35 points or 0.07 percent to end at 2,039.01.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) both dipped 0.16 percent, while China Merchants Bank and China Construction Bank both eased 0.13 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.48 percent, Jiangxi Copper perked 0.05 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rose 0.25 percent, Yankuang Energy gathered 0.26 percent, PetroChina fell 0.25 percent, Huaneng Power added 0.42 percent, China Shenhua Energy increased 0.37 percent, Gemdale stumbled 1.48 percent, Poly Developments dropped 0.89 percent, China Vanke slumped 0.91 percent and Bank of China and Agricultural Bank of China were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened slightly lower on Thursday but gradually moved higher and finished in the green.

The Dow rallied 461.88 points or 1.06 percent to finish at 43,870.35, while the NASDAQ rose 6.28 points or 0.03 percent to close at 18,972.42 and the S&P 500 advanced 31.60 points or 0.53 percent to end at 5,948.71.

The sharp increase by the Dow came amid strong gains by IBM Corp. (IBM), Sherwin-Williams (SHW) and Salesforce (CRM).

The NASDAQ showed a lack of direction as traders tracked the performance of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which reported better than expected third quarter earnings and revenues - but some traders expressed concerns about slowing revenue growth.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell to their lowest level in over six months last week. Also, the Conference Board' leading economic index fell more than expected in October

Oil prices climbed higher Thursday as escalating geopolitical tensions due to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine outweighed recent data showing robust supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $1.35 or 1.96 percent at $70.10 a barrel.