Win Streak May End For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market has finished higher in back-to-back sessions, collecting more than 50 points or 1.2 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits above the 3,915-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns over bad loans in the auto industry. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The SCI finished slightly higher again on Thursday as gains from the financials and energy companies were offset by weakness from the resource and property sectors.

For the day, the index rose 4.02 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 3,916.23 after trading between 3,899.17 and 3,931.05. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 14.05 points or 0.57 percent to end at 2,463.95.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China accelerated 2.28 percent, while Bank of China rallied 1.89 percent, Agricultural Bank of China spiked 3.03 percent, China Merchants Bank collected 1.04 percent, Bank of Communications jumped 1.74 percent, China Life Insurance surged 5.16 percent, Jiangxi Copper plunged 3.10 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) stumbled 1.69 percent, Yankuang Energy soared 3.71 percent, PetroChina strengthened 1.69 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 1.11 percent, Huaneng Power gained 0.81 percent, China Shenhua Energy expanded 2.81 percent, Gemdale retreated 1.65 percent, Poly Developments lost 0.64 percent and China Vanke slumped 1.39 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened higher on Thursday but dropped into the red midday and stayed there for the balance of the session.

The Dow stumbled 301.07 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 45,952.24, while the NASDAQ clumped 107.54 points or 0.47 percent to close at 22.562.54 and the S&P 500 sank 41.99 points or 0.63 percent to end at 6,629.07.

The weakness that materialized on Wall Street was attributed to the emergence of concerns about bad loans following the recent bankruptcies of two auto industry-related companies First Brands and Tricolor Holdings.

Earlier in the day, the tech sector rose on upbeat earnings news from Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM), which produces chips for Nvidia (NVDA). TSM reported a bigger than expected surge in Q3 profits amid strong AI chip demand and raised its forecast for revenue growth.

On the U.S. economic front, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia noted a substantial pullback by its reading on regional manufacturing activity in the month of October.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Thursday after the Energy Information said that crude oil inventories in the U.S. increased much more than expected, sparking demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude Oil for November delivery was down $0.97 or 1.66 percent at $57.30 per barrel.