Chinese stocks continue to perform strongly on government market boosts
22/9/2008 16:09
China's stock markets today maintained the momentum it gained last Friday
on major government market boosts.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index,
which covers A and B shares, opened up 166.63 points, or 8.03 percent, at
2,241.72, and then corrected a bit to conclude the morning session at 2,207.48,
up 132.39 points, or 6.38 percent. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index ended at
7,415.14, up 261.14 points, or 3.65 percent.
The combined transaction volume
on the two bourses amounted to 116.503 billion yuan (US$17.08 billion) for
today's morning session, compared with the 65.6 billion yuan for the whole
Friday.
Observers said this showed market sentiment continued to
recover.
They attributed the strong market performance to new stimulus
measures the securities regulator ushered in over the weekend to stabilize the
stock markets, and to Premier Wen Jiabao's pledge on Saturday to maintain the
stability of the stock markets and the financial regime at large.
Bank
shares, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China,
China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank and CITIC Bank, rose to the
10-percent daily limit several minutes after the opening.
Last Thursday, the
government's investment arm -- Central Huijin Investment Co, Ltd -- said it
would buy shares of three major Chinese lenders on the secondary market to
fortify their share prices.
The three lenders, the Industrial and Commercial
Bank of China, the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank, had shed heavy
losses in the previous three days of trading, as banks were hit most by the
spreading crisis on the Wall Street.
This morning, most losses were in the
steel sector, as many believed continuous price plunges for steel products at
domestic market would drive down the industry.
Pangang Steel&Vanadium
declined 5.24 percent to 8.32 yuan, and Greatwall Holding went down 4.95 percent
to 5.76 yuan.
Gains outnumbered losses by 829 to 47 in Shanghai and by 668 to
62 in Shenzhen.
Xinhua
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