The China stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen just 8 points or 0.3 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index finished just above the 2,355-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting additional support at the opening of trade on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on optimism that European finance ministers will approve a new bailout package for Greece later in the day. Limiting the upside are rising tensions in the Middle East as Iran has discontinued the sale of oil to any British of French companies, in response to the latest round of EU sanctions - although the price of oil is climbing as a result. The European markets were mixed on Friday and the U.S. bourses were mixed, and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference.
The SCI finished flat on Friday as gains from the financial shares and gold miners were erased by softness from the cement companies.
For the day, the index was up 0.32 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 2,357.18 after trading between 2,344.76 and 2,372.51. The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 2.38 points or 0.3 percent to end at 921.02.
Among the actives, Bank of China added 0.3 percent, China Construction Bank collected 0.6 percent, Zhongjin Gold gathered 0.1 percent and Chenzhou Mining Group climbed 0.7 percent, while Anhui Conch Cement eased 0.6 percent and Tangshan Jidong Cement shed 2.0 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is inconclusive as stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance on Friday after showing a strong upward move in the previous session. Nonetheless, optimism that European finance ministers will approve a new bailout package for Greece on Monday helped to keep traders from doing much profit taking.
The markets largely shrugged off a report from the Labor Department showing that its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in January after coming in unchanged in the previous month. Economists had expected an increase of 0.3 percent. Excluding food and energy prices, the core consumer price index also rose by 0.2 percent in January after edging up by 0.1 percent in December - in line with economist estimates.
A separate report from the Conference Board showed that its index of leading economic indicators increased for the fourth consecutive month in January. The leading economic index rose by 0.4 percent in January following a revised 0.5 percent increase in December. Economists had been expecting the index to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 0.4 percent increase originally reported for the previous month.
Among individual stocks, food maker H.J. Heinz (HNZ) rose by 4.6 percent after reporting stronger than expected third quarter earnings and narrowing its full year earnings outlook. Meanwhile, shares of Nordstrom (JWN) fell by 2 percent after the upscale department store operator reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings but forecast full year 2012 earnings below analyst estimates.
The major averages ended the session mixed, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ posting a loss of 8.07 points or 0.3 percent to finish at 2,951.78. The Dow climbed 45.79 points or 0.4 percent to 12,989.87 and the S&P 500 edged up 3.19 points or 0.2 percent to 1,361.23. The major averages all moved higher for the week. The Dow rose by 1.2 percent to its best closing level in well over three years, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 advanced 1.6 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
In economic news, the People's Bank of China announced on Sunday that it will lower the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis point to 20.5 percent for large commercial banks, underling its efforts to ease short-term credit crunch, effective Friday. The cut is the second time in three months. The move releases an estimated 400 billion yuan in capital into the market. The bank in December cut the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points for the first time in three years.
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