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Stocks rebound on healthier economic indicators

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-21 08:05

China's stocks rose the most since March, erasing losses from Wednesday's rout, after better-than-estimated earnings at Bank of Communications Co revived confidence that the economy is recovering.

The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 126, or 4.5 percent, to 2911.58 at the close, the most since March 4. The gauge fell 4.3 percent on Wednesday, briefly dipping more than 20 percent below its Aug 4 high, the threshold for a bear market.

"It's normal and healthy for the market to have a correction after pretty fast share price gains," said Xu Lirong, a Shanghai-based fund manager at Franklin Templeton Sealand Fund Management Co.

The CSI 300 Index gained 4.3 percent to 3144.39.

Bank of Communications advanced 4.4 percent to 9.19 yuan. First-half net income was little changed at 7.62 billion yuan, beating the average estimate of 7.24 billion yuan from nine analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

PetroChina added 6.9 percent to 13.88 yuan, the biggest gain since November. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Asia's biggest oil refiner, also known as Sinopec, rose 2.9 percent to 13 yuan. Crude oil rose for a third day in New York, extending the advance since Aug 17 to 8.9 percent as US stockpiles last week dropped the most since the week ended May 23, 2008.

Related readings:  China's stocks rebound on Thursday  Stocks plunge on lending concerns  China's stocks plunge 4.3% on Wednesday  Stocks end down led by commodities

Shenhua, the nation's largest coal producer, climbed 7.9 percent to 32.5 yuan. China Coal, the No 2, surged 9.6 percent to 12.64 yuan. Datong Coal Industry Co, the third-largest, gained 8.6 percent to 39.46 yuan.

Investors entered the market at the slowest pace in five weeks, opening 484,185 new stock trading accounts in the five days ended Aug 14, according to data from the nation's clearing house.

Hang Seng up

Hong Kong stocks rose, with the benchmark index rebounding from its lowest close in more than three weeks. The Hang Seng Index added 1.9 percent to close at 20328.86.

The benchmark index has soared 79 percent from a four-month low on March 9, amid speculation stimulus efforts worldwide, including 4 trillion yuan of spending in China, will revive global growth.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, which tracks Hong Kong-listed shares of mainland companies, gained 2.3 percent to 11518.84.