No Help Yet For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, sinking more than 30 points or 1 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 2,905-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is brutal on concerns of an economic slowdown in the United States. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the properties and resource and energy companies were offset by support from the financial shares.

For the day, the index sank 27.05 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 2,905.34 after trading between 2,902.72 and 2,931.26. The Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 20.39 points or 1.27 percent to end at 1,581.80.

Among the actives, Bank of China rose 0.21 percent, while China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications both collected 0.27 percent, China Merchants Bank retreated 1.31 percent, China Life Insurance declined 1.55 percent, Jiangxi Copper tanked 2.72 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surrendered 3.95 percent, Yankuang Energy skidded 1.08 percent, PetroChina stumbled 1.88 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.46 percent, Huaneng Power tumbled 2.58 percent, China Shenhua Energy sank 0.76 percent, Gemdale shed 0.65 percent, Poly Developments plunged 2.01 percent, China Vanke slumped 1.30 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and remained well under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 610.74 points or 1.51 percent to finish at 39,737.26, while the NASDAQ tumbled 417.94 points or 2.43 percent to close at 16,776.16 and the S&P dropped 100.12 points or 1.84 percent to end at 5,346.56. For the week, the NASDAQ plummeted 3.4 percent, and the S&P 500 and the Dow both shed 2.1 percent.

Concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy continued to weigh on Wall Street following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing employment increased by much less than expected in the month of July.

While weaker than expected economic data has been a positive for the markets amid expectations it would convince the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, traders are concerned the Fed has waited too long and could spur a U.S. recession.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to the latest earnings news, with companies like Intel (INTC) and online retail giant Amazon (AMZN) leading the way lower.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, sliding for a second successive session on rising concerns about the outlook for demand due to slowing growth in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September fell $2.79 or 3.66 percent at $73.52 a barrel.

Closer to home, China will see July results for the services PMI from Caixin later this morning; in June, the index score was 51.2.