Chinese and Hong Kong blue chips consolidated at the 19,000 level after Thursday's whopping gain, and turnover fell. Renewed optimism for a solution in Europe is driving bulls.
More bad news from Europe drove Hong Kong stocks lower as the Fitch rating agency downgraded Portugal's debt to junk status. Extremely thin turnover set the stage for volatility on Friday.
A rebound in U.S. markets helped China and Hong Kong bounce back from huge losses Thursday. Chinese banks rebounded after a surge in lending lifted loan values for the month.
China stocks are stuck in a narrow range for now, pulled up by prospects of credit easing in China and down by an unending flow of bad news about Europe's debt crisis.