(RTTNews) - Ahead of Friday's holiday for the Dragon Boat Festival, the China stock market had bounced higher again - one session after ending the five-day winning streak in which it had jumped more than 115 points or 3.8 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 3,195-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on pessimism over the outlook for interest rates following a stronger than expected jobs report from the United States. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Thursday as strong gains from the technology stocks were offset by losses from the financials, properties and resource companies.
For the day, the index added 13.30 points or 0.42 percent to finish at 3,195.46 after trading between 3,163.76 and 3,197.28. The Shenzhen Composite Index improved 13.86 points or 0.69 percent to end at 2,026.51.
Among the actives, Hangzhou Digital soared 6.57 percent, while Puya Semiconductor skyrocketed 6.98 percent, Shanghai Awinic Technology surged 6.62 percent, Guoguang Electric spiked 4.52 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 0.43 percent, China Merchants Bank tumbled 1.94 percent, China Life Insurance collected 1.29 percent, Jiangxi Copper added 0.61 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rose 0.40 percent, Yankuang Energy plummeted 4.00 percent, PetroChina retreated 1.44 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) increased 0.45 percent, Huaneng Power dipped 0.28 percent, China Shenhua Energy declined 1.78 percent, Gemdale slumped 1.59 percent, Poly Developments tanked 2.86 percent, China Vanke dropped 0.95 percent, China Fortune Land plunged 2.99 percent, Beijing Capital Development skidded 1.02 percent and Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Bank of Communications were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened deep in the red on Friday and remained that way throughout the session.
The Dow tumbled 348.60 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 32,899.70, while the NASDAQ plunged 304.17 points or 2.47 percent to close at 12,012.73 and the S&P 500 sank 68.28 points or 1.63 percent to end at 4,108.54.
For the week, the Dow slid 0.9 percent, the NASDAQ lost 1 percent and the S&P fell 1.2 percent.
The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as traders cashed in after a stronger than expected jobs report offset the faint hopes that the Federal Reserve might slow its planned pace of interest rate hikes.
In other economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said growth in U.S. service sector activity slowed slightly more than expected in May.
Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday on expectations of increased demand even as OPEC decided to increase output. Stronger than expected U.S. non-farm payroll employment in May also offered support. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.00 or 1.7 percent at $118.87 a barrel.
Closer to home, China will see May results for the services and composite indexes from Caixin later this morning. In April, the services index had a score of 36.2 and the composite was at 37.2.
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