The China stock market moved lower again on Friday, one session after snapping the four-day losing streak in which it had plunged more than 210 points or 6.1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,400-point plateau and it's expected to take further damage on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on disappointing earnings news and renewed coronavirus concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are tipped to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financials, gains from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the property sector.
For the day, the index fell 14.36 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,397.36 after trading between 3,370.45 and 3,404.8852. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.45 points or 0.06 percent to end at 2,385.62.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.65 percent, while Bank of China dropped 0.99 percent, China Construction Bank skidded 1.03 percent, China Merchants Bank plunged 3.02 percent, Bank of Communications lost 0.47 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 0.21 percent, Jiangxi Copper fell 0.23 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) surged 5.85 percent, Yanzhou Coal climbed 1.02 percent, PetroChina advanced 0.86 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) rose 0.25 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.71 percent, Gemdale added 0.48 percent, Poly Developments eased 0.10 percent, China Vanke perked 0.29 percent, China Fortune Land climbed 1.17 percent and Beijing Capital Development sank 2.06 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained in the red throughout the trading session.
The Dow sank 149.06 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 34,935.47, while the NASDAQ dropped 105.59 points or 0.71 percent to end at 14,672.68 and the S&P 500 fell 23.89 points or 0.54 percent to close at 4,395.26.
For the week, the NASDAQ shed 1.1 percent and the Dow and S&P both eased 0.4 percent. But for the month of July, the S&P spiked 2.3 percent, the Dow rose 1.3 percent and the NASDAQ was up 1.2 percent.
A steep drop from Amazon (AMZN) weighed on the markets, with the online retail giant plunging by 7.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month. This came after the company reported second quarter earnings that beat expectations, but its revenues missed estimates for the first time since the third quarter of 2018.
Caterpillar (CAT), Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) also moved to the downside despite reporting quarterly results that exceeded analyst estimates.
In economic news, the Commerce Department noted a slight increase in personal income in June and personal spending also increased. Also, the University of Michigan said consumer sentiment in U.S. fell less than estimated in July.
Crude oil futures settled higher Friday amid hopes energy demand will grow faster than supply despite a resurgence in coronavirus infections across the globe. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up by $0.33 or 0.5 percent at $73.95 a barrel. WTI Crude futures gained 2.6 percent in the week and 0.7 percent in July.
Closer to home, China will see July results for the manufacturing PMI from Caixin later this morning, with forecasts suggesting a score of 51.0 - down from 51.3 in June.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com