Ahead of the long weekend break for New Year's day, the China stock market had moved higher in consecutive trading days - gathering almost 100 points or 3 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just shy of the 3,475-point plateau although investors may cash in on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian is mixed thanks to ongoing coronavirus concerns and apprehension about the U.S. political scene as Republicans continue to try to overturn results of the presidential election. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financials, properties and oil companies.
For the day, the index spiked 58.62 point or 1.72 percent to finish at 3,473.07 after trading between 3,419.73 and 3,474.92. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 40.81 points or 1.78 percent to end at 2,329.37.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.60 percent, while Bank of China added 0.32 percent, China Construction Bank advanced 0.96 percent, China Merchants Bank rallied 2.09 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.45 percent, China Life Insurance spiked 2.70 percent, Jiangxi Copper lost 0.55 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) was up 0.28 percent, Yanzhou Coal fell 0.49 percent, PetroChina rose 0.48 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) improved 0.50 percent, China Shenhua Energy eased 0.11 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.73 percent, Poly Developments climbed 1.41 percent and China Vanke gathered 1.13 percent.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as stocks showed a lack of direction on Thursday before finally moving higher to end in the green.
The Dow climbed 196.88 points or 0.65 percent to finish at 30,606.48, while the NASDAQ rose 18.28 points or 0.14 percent to end at 12,888.28 and the S&P 500 gained 24.03 points or 0.64 percent to close at 3,756.07.
The gains capped off a strong year for U.S. stocks, which moved sharply higher in 2020 despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
For the year, the Dow jumped 7.3 percent, the S&P 500 surged 16.3 percent and the tech-heavy NASDAQ skyrocketed 43.6 percent - benefitting from the stay-at-home orders issued in response to the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
On the economic front, the Labor Department released a report unexpectedly showing a modest drop in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended December 26.
Crude oil futures settled modestly higher on Thursday despite concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $0.12 or 0.3 percent at $48.52 a barrel. WTI Crude oil futures lost 21 percent in 2020, while Brent crude futures tumbled more than 22 percent.
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