BEIJING: The China stock market has finished higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 30 points or 1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite Index now rests just above the 3,180-point plateau, and the market may add to its winning streak on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive thanks to solid economic data and a rebound in the price of crude oil. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit. The SCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials, properties, resource stocks and telecoms. Among the actives, Agricultural Bank of China added 0.31 percent, while Bank of China picked up 0.56 percent, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China collected 0.22 percent, Vanke gained 0.53 percent, Gemdale was unchanged, PetroChina advanced 0.24 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) skidded 0.68 percent, China Unicom gathered 0.15 percent, Zijin Mining jumped 0.85 percent and China Shenhua gained 0.24 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as stocks moved higher on Thursday after showing a lack of direction in the past few sessions. The Dow added 118.06 points or 0.6 percent to 20,172.40, while the NASDAQ gained 32.73 points or 0.6 percent to 5,715.18 and the S&P rose 13.20 points or 0.6 percent to 2,307.87.
Support followed comments from President Donald Trump, who pledged to lower the tax burden on American business in the next few weeks. He has previously proposed reducing the corporate income tax rate to 15 or 20 percent from the current rate of 35 percent. Positive sentiment was also generated by a Labor Department report showing a decrease in initial jobless claims in the week ended February 4th. Also, the Commerce Department said that wholesale inventories increased in line with estimates in December. Crude oil futures steadied Thursday after slipping to multi-week lows in the previous session. March oil was up 66 cents or 1.3 percent to settle at $53/bbl on Nymex.
