The China stock market has moved lower in back-to-back trading days, surrendering nearly 75 points or 2.1 percent in that span. The Shanghai Composite index now sits just above the 3m500-point plateau although it's expected to bounce higher on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on solid economic data, easing bond yields and support from crude oil prices. The European markets were down and the U.S. markets were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.
The SCI finished barely lower on Friday following losses from the resource stocks, gains from the oil companies and mixed performances from the financials and properties.
For the day, the index eased 1.50 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,5001.99 after trading between 3,456.67 and 3,523.57. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 3.93 points or 0.17 percent to end at 2,298.60.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rallied 2.20 percent, while Bank of China advanced 0.92 percent, China Construction Bank rose 0.13 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 1.91 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.65 percent, China Life Insurance tanked 2.37 percent, Jiangxi Copper retreated 1.80 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) plunged 6.22 percent, Yanzhou Coal plummeted 6.53 percent, Baoshan Iron cratered 7.79 percent, PetroChina spiked 2.08 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) climbed 1.12 percent, Gemdale sank 2.45 percent, Poly Developments declined 1.86 percent, China Vanke surrendered 3.52 percent, China Fortune Land climbed 1.57 percent and Beijing Capital Development gained 0.72 percent.
The lead from Wall Street ends up positive as stocks opened higher on Friday, fell into the red but then spiked to close firmly in the green.
The Dow surged 572.16 points or 1.85 percent to finish at 31,496.30, while the NASDAQ jumped 196.68 points or 1.55 percent to end at 12,920.15 and the S&P 500 climbed 73.47 points or 1.95 percent to close at 3,841.94. For the week, the Dow added 1.8 percent, the NASDAQ sank 2.1 percent and the S&P rose 0.8 percent.
The wild ride on Wall Street came as traders kept a close eye on the bond markets following the recent increase in yields - which spiked early in the session after the release of upbeat jobs data.
However, bond yields eased to end nearly flat, which inspired traders to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the weakness seen in recent sessions.
The volatility in the markets followed the release of the Labor Department's monthly jobs report, which showed much stronger than expected job growth in February. The report also said the jobless rate fell to 6.2 percent, the lowest in a year.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday, extending gains after OPEC decided to maintain its output reduction agreement through April. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended higher by $2.26 or 3.5 percent at $66.09 a barrel, the highest settlement since June 2019. WTI futures gained more than 7 percent in the week.
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