The China stock market on Friday snapped the three-day slide in which it had stumbled almost a dozen points or 0.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,475-point plateau and it's set to open higher again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian market is cautiously optimistic, with upside limited by surging coronavirus cases in India. The European were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and the resource stocks.
For the day, the index gained 9.05 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 3,474.17 after trading between 3,456.33 and 3,482.36. The Shenzhen Composite Index added 10.37 points or 0.45 percent to end at 2,298.55.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China sank 0.75 percent, while Bank of China shed 0.61 percent, China Construction Bank lost 0.56 percent, China Merchants Bank climbed 1.31 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.82 percent, China Life Insurance rallied 2.49 percent, Jiangxi Copper gathered 1.29 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) added 0.47 percent, Yanzhou Coal skidded 1.01 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) dropped 0.70 percent, Baoshan iron soared 4.22 percent, Gemdale tanked 2.22 percent, Poly Developments slid 0.63 percent, China Vanke plunged 3.20 percent and PetroChina and Beijing Capital Development were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages showed a strong move to the upside, picking up steam as the session progressed.
The Dow spiked 227.59 points or 0.67 percent, while the NASDAQ jumped 198.39 points or 1.44 percent to end at 14,016.81 and the S&P 500 gained 45.19 points or 1.09 percent to close at 4,180.17. For the week, the Dow fell 0.5 percent, the NASDAQ shed 1.4 percent and the S&P eased 0.1 percent.
The rebound on Wall Street partly reflected the volatility seen over the past few sessions, which saw the major averages show big swings back-and-forth.
Optimism about the economic recovery has helped prop up the markets, although concerns about high valuations and surging coronavirus cases overseas have led to worries about the near-term outlook.
In economic news, the Commerce Department reported a substantial rebound in new home sales in March, sending sales to their highest level since August 2006.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday, lifted by buoyant demand for energy in the U.S. despite a weak global outlook. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for June ended up by $0.71 or 1.2 percent at $62.14 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 1.7 percent in the week.
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