China Shares May See Renewed Selling Pressure

(RTTNews) - The China stock market bounced higher again on Friday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had gained more than 65 points or 1.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 4,160-point plateau although it's likely to open in the red on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative following the outbreak of hostilities between the United States and Israel against Iran. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The SCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the resource stocks, and properties, weakness from the oil companies and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index gained 16.25 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 4,162.88 after trading between 4,128.36 and 4,166.23. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 8.36 points or 0.30 percent to end at 2,763.59.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China slumped 0.57 percent, while Bank of China collected 0.19 percent, Agricultural Bank of China lost 0.31 percent, China Merchants Bank perked 0.13 percent, Bank of Communications and China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) both shed 0.46 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.71 percent, Jiangxi Copper vaulted 2.00 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 1.93 percent, Yankuang Energy soared 4.30 percent, PetroChina fell 0.28 percent, Huaneng Power rallied 2.12 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.03 percent, Gemdale advanced 0.92 percent, Poly Developments gathered 0.44 percent and China Vanke rose 0.41 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 521.28 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 48,977.92, while the NASDAQ sank 210.17 points or 0.92 percent to end at 22,668.21 and the S&P 500 lost 29.98 points or 0.43 percent to close at 6,878.88.

For the week, the Dow tumbled 1.3 percent, the NASDAQ slumped 1.0 percent and the S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent.

The continued weakness on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing producer prices in the U.S. increased 0.5 percent in January, more than the expected 0.3 percent.

The jump in producer prices along with concerns about AI-related layoffs led to worries about a period of stagflation. Adding to recent concerns about potential AI disruptions, Block (XYZ) said it is cutting its workforce by nearly half.

Crude oil prices spiked on Friday amid growing concerns about a military conflict between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for April surged $1.71 or 2.6 percent to $66.92 barrel - although it's expected to jump sharply again now that hostilities have broken out.