China's stock market has experienced a slight decline over the past two sessions, dropping nearly 15 points or 0.4%. Consequently, the Shanghai Composite Index is now positioned just below the 3,370 mark, with potential for a modest rise anticipated on Monday.
The forecast for Asian markets holds a cautiously optimistic tone, buoyed by an improved outlook regarding interest rates. Despite declines in European markets, the U.S. exchanges demonstrated gains, suggesting Asian markets might follow this upward trend.
On Friday, the Shanghai Composite Index closed marginally lower, impacted by losses within the property and resource sectors, while financial stocks presented a mixed performance. Specifically, the index eased by 1.96 points or 0.06% to close at 3,368.07, following a trading range between 3,362.82 and 3,390.62. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen Composite Index increased by 9.04 points or 0.44% to settle at 2,041.89.
Key active stocks on the day included the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which rose 0.62%, Bank of China, up 0.57%, and China Merchants Bank, which slipped 0.29%. Notably, China Life Insurance decreased by 0.81%, Jiangxi Copper fell 1.34%, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) declined 1.49%, and Yankuang Energy dropped 2.45%. Other downward moves were seen in PetroChina, down 0.95%, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec), down 1.24%, Huaneng Power, which tumbled 1.99%, China Shenhua Energy, which plunged 2.98%, Gemdale, down 0.85%, Poly Developments, which shed 0.53%, China Vanke, down 1.14%, while Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank remained unchanged.
Wall Street provided a positive lead, as major indices started lower but quickly reversed to remain in positive territory for the rest of the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 498.06 points or 1.18% to close at 42,840.26. Similarly, the NASDAQ Composite climbed 199.80 points or 1.03% to 19,572.60, and the S&P 500 rose 63.77 points or 1.09% to end at 5,930.85.
Over the week, however, the Dow plummeted 2.3%, while the S&P 500 and NASDAQ experienced declines of 2.0% and 1.8%, respectively. The resurgence on Wall Street was influenced by a report from the Commerce Department indicating personal consumption expenditures (PCE) grew slower than expected. As PCE is the Federal Reserve's preferred metric for consumer price inflation, the softer growth figures encouraged investors to buy stocks at discounted prices following the mid-week downturn.
In commodities, oil futures closed higher on Friday after the dollar retreated from its two-year high, as the muted PCE data alleviated concerns over future interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures edged up $0.08, approximately 0.1%, to $69.46 per barrel, despite a weekly decline of 2.5%.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company -
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