The China stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 20 points or 0.5 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just beneath the 3,460-point plateau although it may find traction on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian is cautiously optimistic, although weakness from the technology and oil stocks may limit the upside. The European and U.S. markets were mostly higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Friday as losses from the financials and oil companies were mitigated by support from the resource stocks and properties.
For the day, the index shed 8.32 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 3,458.23 after trading between 3,436.93 and 3,466.39. The Shenzhen Composite Index slipped 3.98 points or 0.16 percent to end at 2,443.06.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 0.22 percent, while China Construction Bank shed 0.35 percent, China Merchants Bank jumped 1.80 percent, Bank of Communications slid 0.23 percent, China Life Insurance dropped 0.89 percent, Jiangxi Copper soared 4.25 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) spiked 3.11 percent, Yanzhou Coal surged 5.09 percent, PetroChina dipped 0.22 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) lost 0.50 percent, China Shenhua Energy gained 0.52 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.33 percent, Poly Developments rallied 2.58 percent, China Vanke improved 0.52 percent, China Fortune Land declined 1.66 percent and Bank of China and China Minsheng Bank were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is mixed as the Dow and S&P opened higher on Friday and finished at record closing highs - while the NASDAQ opened in the red and the finished under water.
The Dow added 144.26 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 35,208.51, while the NASDAQ lost 59.36 points or 0.40 percent to close at 14,835.76 and the S&P 500 rose 7.42 points or 0.17 percent to end at 4,436.52.
The mixed performance on Wall Street came as better than expected jobs data added to economic optimism but also raised concerns about the outlook for monetary policy. The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment spiked by 943,000 jobs in July after surging by an upwardly revised 938,000 jobs in June.
Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated further progress was needed in labor market recovery before the central would consider scaling back stimulus.
The price of crude oil moved lower again on Friday as concerns about the outlook for global demand amid a surge in coronavirus infections overshadowed upbeat U.S. jobs data. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for September delivery slid $0.81 or 1.2 percent to $68.28 a barrel, plunging 7.7 percent for the week.
Closer to home, China will release July figures for consumer and producer prices later this morning. Consumer prices are tipped to rise 0.2 percent on month and 0.8 percent on year after slipping 04 percent on month and climbing 1.1 percent on year in June. Producer prices are expected to hold steady, higher by 8.8 percent on year.
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