China Bourse May Open In The Red On Monday

(RTTNews) - The China stock market on Friday snapped the five-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 90 points or 2.2 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index now sits just above the 4,050-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is gloomy after the Strait of Hormuz was shut down again over the weekend. The European and U.S. markets were sharply higher on Friday, but the Asian bourses are now expected to open under pressure on Monday.

The SCI finished slightly lower on Friday following losses from the oil and resource stocks, gains from the properties and a mixed picture from the financial shares.

For the day, the index slipped 4.12 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 4,051.43 after trading between 4,038.43 and 4,058.60. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 10.14 points or 0.37 percent to end at 2,743.71.

Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dipped 0.27 percent, while Bank of China fell 0.35 percent, Agricultural Bank of China advanced 0.86 percent, China Merchants Bank dropped 0.98 percent, Bank of Communications collected 0.58 percent, China Life Insurance sank 0.92 percent, Jiangxi Copper skidded 1.00 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) slumped 0.86 percent, Yankuang Energy tanked 1.91 percent, PetroChina declined 1.03 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) tumbled 1.77 percent, Huaneng Power shed 0.72 percent, China Shenhua Energy perked 0.04 percent, Gemdale climbed 1.07 percent, Poly Developments jumped 1.68 percent and China Vanke was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher on Friday and remained firmly in the green throughout the trading day, ending at session highs.

The Dow jumped 868.71 points or 1.79 percent to finish at 49.447.43, while the NASDAQ rallied 365.78 points or 1.52 percent to end at 24,468.48 and the S&P 500 gained 84.78 points or 1.20 percent to close at 7,126.06.

For the week, the NASDAQ skyrocketed 6.8 percent, the S&P 500 soared 4.9 percent and the Dow spiked 3.2 percent.

The rally on Wall Street came following news that Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz completely open to commercial traffic on the heels of the 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

The news of the temporary reopening of the strait led to a nosedive by the price of crude oil, easing supply-related concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $11.17 or 10.58 percent at $84.11 per barrel.

The strength on Wall Street may also have reflected optimism about the strength of corporate earnings ahead of the quarterly results from several big-name companies this week.