(RTTNews) – The China stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, collecting more than 35 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,230-point plateau and it’s likely to extend its gains on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic ahead of this week’s Federal Reserve’s meeting. The European markets were slightly lower and the U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the oil companies, weakness from the properties and financials and a mixed picture from the resource stocks.
For the day, the index gained 17.82 points or 0.55 percent to finish at the daily high of 3,231.41 after moving as low as 3,206.10. The Shenzhen Composite Index improved 14.12 points or 0.71 percent to end at 2,006.45.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.39 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.48 percent, China Construction Bank skidded 1.05 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 1.00 percent, Bank of Communications slid 0.33 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.99 percent, Jiangxi Copper rose 0.11 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) was down 0.36 percent, Yankuang Energy lost 0.60 percent, PetroChina added 0.51 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) jumped 1.65 percent, Huaneng Power improved 1.27 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 0.51 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.68 percent, Poly Developments slumped 1.25 percent, China Vanke stumbled 1.48 percent and China Fortune Land was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened firmly higher on Friday, slumped midday but ticked back into the green to end slightly higher.
The Dow added 43.18 points or 0.13 percent to finish at 33,876.78, while the NASDAQ rose 20.64 points or 0.16 percent to close at 13,259.14 and the S&P 500 perked 4.93 points or 0.11 percent to end at 4,298.86.
For the week, the S&P rose 0.4 percent, the Dow gained 0.3 percent and the NASDAQ perked 0.1 percent.
The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.
Thursday’s report showing initial jobless claims jumped to their highest level since October 2021 last week added to the optimism about the Fed pausing its interest rate hikes.
Crude oil prices slumped again on Friday, extending losses from the previous session on concerns about the outlook for demand ahead of several key central bank meetings this week. West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell $1.12 or 1.6 percent to $70.17 a barrel.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.