(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-19 14:57

After a tough week, investors are hoping that China's stock market is finally ready to sustain a comeback when the market kicks off trade on Monday.

Related readings: Stock market bounces back Funds trying to drive up depressed stock market  Govt to watch stock market closely

The Shanghai Composite Index has been on a downward spiral of late, tied to a series of economic data reports that hint of government restrictions on the market - to the dismay of investors.

As a result, the market is currently on a two-day losing streak and has dropped in six of the last seven business days.

On Friday, the index finished 49 points or 0.91 percent lower to close at 5,316.27 after trading between 5,335.51 and 5,2,24.31. Volume was 3.74 billion shares worth 94 billion yuan.

Among the decliners, Shenzhen Development Bank shed 4.69 percent, while Citic Securities plunged 3.02 percent and Baoshan Iron and Steel was down 2.31 percent. Also finishing lower were Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Bank of China. Bucking the trend, Bank of Ningbo rose 1.16 percent.

Wall Street provides a marginally positive lead, for the first time in nearly two weeks. With some traders staying on the sidelines following recent volatility, the US stock markets showed a lack of direction throughout the trading session on Friday. Stocks were unable to sustain any significant moves but eventually ended the session higher.

The choppy trading was partly due to a mixed performance by the major sectors, with significant strength among resource and software stocks being offset by considerable weakness in the financial and transportation sectors.

The major averages all moved to the upside going into the close, however, ending the session firmly in positive territory. With the gains, the major averages all closed modestly higher for the week.

After bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, the Dow closed up 66.74 or 0.5 percent at 13,176.79. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed up 18.73 or 0.7 percent at 2,637.24 and the S&P 500 closed up 7.59 or 0.5 percent at 1,458.74.

In other market news, the Shanghai Composite Index is expected to allow multinational companies to list shares on China's largest exchange, according to media reports on Sunday. According to exchange general manager Que Bo, the plan would make Shanghai's market more competitive and would strengthen the blue-chip market, also attracting more large domestic firms into the market.

In corporate news, China Life Insurance Co, the nation's biggest insurer, collected insurance premiums of 170.1 billion yuan in the first 10 months of 2007, the company said Monday. Last month, the company had collected insurance premium income of 158.6 billion yuan in the first nine months of this year. The company's 2006 premium income rose to 183.8 billion yuan, compared with 160.9 billion yuan in 2005.