The China stock market on Friday halted the two-day slide in which it had retreated more than 15 points or 0.5 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index settled just above the 2,940-point plateau, although now traders are bracing for renewed selling pressure when the market kicks off trade on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly negative on lingering concerns over the rising price of crude oil and tensions in Libya and elsewhere. Investors are flocking to safe haven gold for support, while financials, properties and airlines are expected to remain soft. The European markets were mixed on Friday and the U.S. bourses were down - and the Asian markets are expected to fall right in between.
The SCI finished sharply higher on Friday thanks to solid gains from the property stocks and the coal miners.
For the day, the index climbed 39.33 points or 1.4 percent to finish at 2942.31 after trading between 2,898.08 and 2,944.46 on turnover of 146.05 billion yuan. The Shenzhen Composite Index jumped 14.22 points or 1.1 percent to finish at 1,286.22.
Among the gainers, Yanzhou Mining spiked 7.1 percent, while Jizhong Energy Resources jumped 5.0 percent, Shanxi Guoyang New Energy climbed 3.7 percent, China Vanke added 1.8 percent, Gemdale rose 2.5 percent and Shanghai Lujiazui Finance surged 8.1 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is fairly pessimistic as stocks fell on Friday, with surging oil prices amid ongoing chaos in the Arab world leaving traders unwilling to remain long in equities ahead of the weekend. The overseas chaos drove crude oil above the $104 a barrel mark, overshadowing a strong February jobs report.
Oil prices continued to grab headlines, as chaos continued to grip the oil-rich North African nation of Libya, while some protests were reported in eastern Saudi Arabia, another key oil supplier. Oil gained $2.51 to close at $104.42 a barrel, its highest closing level in approximately two and a half years.
Early on, traders looked to the Labor Department's jobs report, which said payroll employment rose by 192,000 jobs in February following an increase of 63,000 jobs in January. On average, economists had expected employment to increase by about 196,000 jobs.
The report also showed that the unemployment rate slipped to 8.9 percent in February from 9.0 percent in January. The modest decrease came as a surprise to economists, who had been expecting the unemployment rate to edge up to 9.1 percent.
The major averages significantly trimmed their losses late in the day but still closed in the red. The Dow fell by 88.32 points or 0.7 percent to close at 12,169.88, the NASDAQ slid by 14.07 points or 0.5 percent to 2,784.67 and the S&P 500 declined by 9.82 points or 0.7 percent to 1,321.15.
With the late-day recovery attempt, the major averages managed to post modest gains for the week. The Dow posted a weekly gain of 0.3 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 both edged up by 0.1 percent.
In economic news, Chinese banks curbed lending in February, official China Securities Journal reported on Friday. According to the report, Chinese lenders have issued less than CNY 600 billion new loans in February. That compares with CNY 1.04 trillion worth new loans issued in January. The decline in lending shows that the tightening measures taken by the People's Bank of China since 2010 are having an expected impact.
In February, the central bank lifted commercial banks' reserve ratio by 50 basis points for the second time this year to absorb excess liquidity. Last year, it had raised reserve ratio six times. The bank had raised its key interest rates by 25 basis points each in January, December and October.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.