Lower Open Expected For China Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The China stock market ticked higher again on Friday, one session after snapping the nine-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 140 points or 3.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just beneath the 3,970-point plateau although it may open under pressure on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is uncertain amidst geopolitical concerns in South America. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the somewhat overbought Asian bourses are expected to open in mixed fashion.

The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index perked 3.72 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 3,968.84 after trading between 3,955.49 and 3,977.54. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 7.73 points or 0.30 percent to end at 2,530.96.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China increased 1.02 percent, while Bank of China climbed 1.06 percent, Agricultural Bank of China gained 0.92 percent, China Merchants Bank lost 0.43 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.14 percent, China Life Insurance dipped 0.15 percent, Jiangxi Copper skyrocketed 9.29 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) jumped 1.54 percent, Yankuang Energy sank 0.75 percent, PetroChina rallied 1.56 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) shed 0.59 percent, Huaneng Power improved 0.95 percent, China Shenhua Energy was up 0.12 percent, Gemdale advanced 0.99 percent, Poly Developments perked 0.16 percent and China Vanke added 0.65 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly upbeat as the major averages spent most of Friday's session hugging the line for much of the day before finishing mostly in the green.

The Dow climbed 319.09 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 48,382.39, while the NASDAQ dipped 6.37 points or 0.03 percent to close at 23,235.63 and the S&P 500 added12.97 points or 0.19 percent to end at 6,858.47.

For the week, the NASDAQ dropped 1.5 percent, the S&P sank 1.0 percent and the Dow lost 0.7 percent.

The lackluster performance by the broader markets came as some traders remained away from their desks following the New Year's Day holiday on Thursday.

Geopolitical concerns may weigh on sentiment after the U.S. carried out a large-scale strike against Venezuela. That country's leader, President Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife, had been captured and flown out of Venezuela.

Crude oil prices ticked lower on Friday ahead of Sunday's OPEC meeting, with West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery dipping $0.12 or 0.2 percent to $57.30. On Sunday, OPEC decided to keep output levels unchanged, as expected. For 2025, crude fell almost 20 percent.