The China stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, sinking almost 30 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,525-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic on positive economic cues, although a coronavirus resurgence may cap the upside. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the financials were mitigated by support from the resource companies.
For the day, the index eased 1.41 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 3,524.09 after trading between 3,485.05 and 3,529.31. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.63 points or 0.07 percent to end at 2,436.84.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.82 percent, while China Construction Bank retreated 1.37 percent, China Merchants Bank sank 0.89 percent, China Life Insurance skidded 1.20 percent, Jiangxi Copper soared 6.65 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) skyrocketed 9.94 percent, Yanzhou Coal surged 7.64 percent, China Shenhua Energy climbed 1.27 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.31 percent, Poly Developments perked 0.50 percent, China Vanke rose 0.04 percent, Beijing Capital Development was up 0.19 percent and Bank of China, Bank of Communications, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) and PetroChina were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly upbeat as stocks opened firmly higher on Friday and accelerated into the close to fresh record highs.
The Dow spiked 448.26 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 34,870.16, while the NASDAQ climbed 142.12 points or 0.98 percent to end at 14,701.92 and the S&P 500 climbed 48.73 points or 1.13 percent to close at 4,369.55. For the week, the Dow rose 0.2 percent and the NASDAQ and S&P both added 0.4 percent.
Despite worries about the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, traders seem optimistic the U.S. economy will continue to outperform.
A rebound by treasury yields also generated buying interest, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note bouncing off its lowest closing level since February.
Crude oil futures settled higher Friday, extending gains from the previous session following a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August settled at $74.56, gaining $1.62 or 2.2 percent in the session.
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