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Stocks surge 4.6% on rosy earning prospect

By Ding Qi (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-07-07 17:30

The mainland stock market embraced an inspiring Monday as strong earning forecasts of banks led the Shanghai index to rally 122 points.

Shanghai Composite Index  Source: www.sina.com.cn

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2,673.55 and rallied 4.59 percent during the day's trading to close at 2,792.40. The smaller Shenzhen market ended 5.34 percent higher to 9,902.98. Combined turnover expanded to 122.76 billion yuan ($17.54 billion).

Of all the stocks traded Monday, 1,472 finished up with some 100 of them rocketing to the daily limit of 10 percent. Only eight stocks went down and 99 closed flat. Heavy-weights such as Baoshan Iron & Steel, Shanghai Auto and Sinopec all contributed notable rises.

In a statement to the Shanghai bourse today, China Merchants Bank said its unaudited net profit for the first half of this year would more than double compared to the same period of last year. Meanwhile, China CITIC Bank also projected a more than 160 percent year-on-year rise in first-half net profit. Boosted by the news, shares of the two lenders surged 6.48 percent and 7.27 percent, respectively, and lead the market rebound.

Previously, several other banks, including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Shenzhen Development Bank had a similar rosy forecast for their half-year results, which will help to ease investor worries that the nation's tightening monetary policy may dampen banks' profit.

In a related development, market sources also said on Monday that the financial authority may set up a special fund to stabilize the stock market under major fluctuations. Although the news is not confirmed yet, maintaining the healthy development of the capital market is getting more endorsement both from investors and stock regulators.