China's stock market snapped a string of four straight days of decline on Wednesday, but investors are bracing for the market to head sharply lower when the Shanghai Composite Index kicks off trade on Thursday. The market finally closed higher on Friday, although profit-taking brought the index down from its daily high. Worries over a change in interest rates also weighed on investors. For the day, the index picked up 65.21 points or 1.2 percent to close at 5,601.78. Turnover fell to 76.30 billion yuan, the lowest in three months. After a rough couple of days, many of the big stocks finished higher. Shenzhen Overseas Chinese Town Holdings Co soared by the 10 percent daily trading limit. The battered banking sector also rebounded somewhat as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China gained 4.8 percent and Bank of China rose 3.8 percent. Also posting gains were China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp and PetroChina Co Ltd. Wall Street provides thoroughly negative momentum as stocks plunged on Wednesday. A broad based sell-off ensued after General Motors posted a record quarterly loss, the dollar slumped to further lows against the euro, and negative news continued to leak out of the financial markets. The dollar sunk to further lows after a top Chinese official said that the country should move more of its $1.43 trillion of currency reserves into stronger currencies, such as the euro. The Dow declined a whopping 360.92 points, or 2.64 percent, to end the session at 13,300.02, while the Nasdaq fell 76.42 points, or 2.70 percent, to close at 2,748.76. The S&P 500 posted the largest percentage decline, falling 44.65 points, or 2.94 percent, to end at 1,475.62. In market news, the government has released a new guide of industries open to foreign investment and foreign companies that are banned or restricted from entering the Chinese market. In legislation that takes effect December 1, China has prohibited foreign investors from exploiting important and non-renewable mineral resources, and to restrict highly-polluting projects. In corporate news, Internet service provider China.com has signed an advertising contract with online game developer Giant Interactive Group Inc, the company announced Wednesday. The ad campaign for Giant will run on China.com's game channel. China.com is a unit of Hong Kong-based software, online gaming and Internet company CDC Corp.
November 7, 2007 8:05 PM