China Shares May Halt Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 55 points or 1.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,875-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amidst a lack of catalysts, although oil and technology stocks may provide support. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourse were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, gains from the oil companies and a mixed picture from the property sector.

For the day, the index lost 21.92 points or 0.56 percent to finish at 3,875.79 after trading between 3,859.05 and 3,888.86. The Shenzhen Composite Index eased 2.44 points or 0.10 percent to end at 2,438.53.

Among the actives, Bank of China dropped 1.01 percent, while Agricultural Bank of China skidded 1.00 percent, China Merchants Bank gained 0.49 percent, Bank of Communications retreated 1.20 percent, China Life Insurance collected 0.79 percent, Jiangxi Copper jumped 1.57 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) slumped 1.27 percent, Yankuang Energy dipped 0.07 percent, PetroChina improved 0.81 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) added 0.34 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.75 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.26 percent, Gemdale advanced 0.93 percent, Poly Developments rose 0.31 percent, China Vanke sank 0.80 percent and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher but spent the day bouncing back and forth across the changed line, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 31.96 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 47,850.94, while the NASDAQ added 51.04 points or 0.22 percent to close at 23,505.14 and the S&P 500 rose 7.40 points or 0.11 percent to end at 6,857.12.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following the volatility earlier in the week.

Traders largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a three-year low last week.

While the data partly offset recent optimism about the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates next week, the central bank is still widely expected to lower rates by another quarter point.

Crude oil prices advanced on Thursday as expectations of an end to the Russia-Ukraine war dimmed. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.70 or 1.19 percent at $59.65 per barrel.