The China stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 30 points or 1.1 percent along the way. The Shanghai Composite now sits just above the 2,735-point plateau although the rally may stall on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking likely on the docket after strong gains late last week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are tipped to split the difference.
The SCI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the financial shares, property stocks and resource companies.
For the day, the index ticked up 0.79 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 2,736.81 after trading between 2,717.95 and 2,741.16. The Shenzhen Composite Index dipped 2.34 points or 0.16 percent to end at 1,494.66.
Among the actives, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 0.35 percent, while Bank of China added 0.65 percent, China Construction Bank collected 0.70 percent, China Merchants Bank gathered 0.39 percent, Bank of Communications gained 0.61 percent, Jiangxi Copper strengthened 1.48 percent, Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) rallied 1.15 percent, Yankuang Energy climbed 1.05 percent, PetroChina improved 0.76 percent, China Petroleum and Chemical (Sinopec) advanced 0.95 percent, Huaneng Power retreated 1.22 percent, China Shenhua Energy increased 1.32 percent, Gemdale jumped 1.24 percent, Poly Developments and China Vanke both spiked 1.77 percent and China Life Insurance was unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow broke barely into the green by the sessions end.
The Dow added 38.16 points or 0.09 percent to finish at a record 42,063.36, while the NASDAQ slumped 65.68 points or 0.36 percent to close at 17,948.32 and the S7P 500 fell 11.09 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,702.55.
For the week, the Dow jumped 1.6 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.5 percent and the S&P rallied 1.4 percent.
The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, with traders cashing in on Thursdays significant rally amid a positive reaction to the Federal Reserves decision to slash interest rates by half of a percentage point.
Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they question what the next catalyst for the markets will be now that the Feds first rate cut is in the rearview mirror.
Oil futures settled slightly lower on Friday due largely to profit taking by traders after solid gains last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October eased $0.03 at $71.92 a barrel.