Asian Economic News
China Shares Poised To Open Higher
10/22/2009 8:22 PM ET
(RTTNews) -
The China stock market has closed lower now in two straight sessions, shedding nearly 85 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index remained above the 3,050-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting a firm move back to the upside when the market kicks off trade on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is firmly positive, thanks to continued strength among corporate results. Commodities may ease slightly against a strengthening U.S. dollar, although financials and property stocks are tipped higher. The European markets ended in negative territory, while the U.S. bourses were higher - and the Asian markets are also tipped to move to the upside.
The SCI finished modestly lower on Thursday, tugged under water by selling among the commodities, financials and steel producers. A big batch of economic data also weighed somewhat on investors after it failed to surprise to the upside.
For the day, the index lost 19.18 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 3,051.41 after trading between 3,045.03 and 3,080.66. The Shenzhen Index shed 68.03 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 12,624.68 for a combined turnover of 199.22 billion yuan.
Among the decliners, Jiangxi Copper shed 2.54 percent, while Yunnan Copper fell 2.16 percent, Shandong Gold Mining lost 1.40 percent, Bank of China was down 0.97 percent, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank retreated 0.97 percent, Bank of Communications declined 2.65 percent, Baoshan Iron & Steel Corp shed 1.11 percent and Wuhan Iron & Steel lost 2.39 percent.
The market draws a strong lead from Wall Street as stocks rose by substantial margins on Thursday, with earnings optimism eclipsing some disappointing news on the downtrodden labor market. The major averages all closed firmly on the upside after seeing a largely lackluster performance for much of the session.
Early uncertainty came after the Labor Department said before the start of trading showing that first-time claims for unemployment benefits increased by much more than expected in the week ended October 17. Jobless claims rose to 531,000 from the previous week's revised figured of 520,000. Economists had been expecting jobless claims to edge up to 515,000 from the 514,000 originally reported for the previous week.
Separately, the Conference Board released its report on leading economic indicators in the month of September, showing that its leading indicators index increased for the sixth consecutive month.
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