(RTTNews) – The China stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slumping more than 60 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,365-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat thanks to ongoing tariff concerns. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were barely higher, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The SCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and property stocks, while the resource companies were mixed.
For the day, the index dropped 44.12 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 3,364.83 after trading between 3,355.84 and 3,414.71. The Shenzhen Composite Index stumbled 38.03 points or 1.81 percent to end at 2,063.51.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China lost 1.17 percent, while Bank of China and China Life Insurance both skidded 1.11 percent, China Construction Bank shed 0.59 percent, China Merchants Bank declined 1.19 percent, Agricultural Bank of China retreated 0.97 percent, Jiangxi Copper stumbled 1.78 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) tanked 2.07 percent, Yankuang Energy rose 0.30 percent, PetroChina perked 0.13 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) slumped 0.85 percent, China Shenhua Energy slid 0.35 percent, Gemdale tumbled 1.89 percent, Poly Developments sank 0.93 percent, China Vanke dropped 0.94 percent and Huaneng Power was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street ends up slightly positive as the major averages spent almost all of Friday in the red before peeking into the green just before the close.
The Dow added 32.05 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 41,985.35, while the NASDAQ gained 92.45 points or 0.52 percent to close at 17,784.05 and the S&P 500 perked 4.67 points or 0.08 percent to end at 5,667.56.
For the week, the Dow jumped 1.2 percent, while the S&P and the NASDAQ both ended four-week losing streaks, rising by 0.5 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
The early weakness on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about the economic outlook along with rising geopolitical tensions and uncertainty about the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Crude oil prices bounced higher on Friday on geopolitical tensions after new U.S. sanctions against a Chinese refinery that purchased Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery climbed $0.23 or 0.3 percent to $68.30 a barrel.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
