Daisy Dai/Shanghai Daily news

Shanghai shares surged yesterday as investors snapped up big caps and companies that restructured their stock holdings.
The shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both yuan-dominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, climbed 1.02 percent to close at 1,209.42. The index jumped a total of 3.9 percent in the first three trading days of 2006.
The a-share index rose 1 percent to 1,271.30 and the B-share index added 2.4 percent at 66.97.
Four companies led the market with a rise of 10 percent yesterday, including Tsinghua Tongfang Co Ltd, one of the top 50 big caps in the Shanghai market. The firm was the top gainer when it surged 10.04 percent to 10.52 yuan (US$1.30).
Another big gainer was China Southern Airlines Co, the nation's biggest carrier by fleet, which soared 7.33 percent to 2.93 yuan.
Among other big advancers was China Merchants Bank which rose 1.47 percent to 7.58 yuan. The bank resumed trading from Wednesday, the day the stock market reopened after the New Year holiday. The stock was suspended after it released its plan to restructure its share holdings on December 17.
Shanghai pudong Development Bank rose 2.88 percent to 10.72 yuan.
"The government has been making efforts to boost the stock market by introducing preferential policies," said Zhang Qi, an analyst at Haitong Securities Co.
Among the policies was a government plan to let overseas investors invest in listed companies' traded equities.
Although zhang predicted the uptrend will continue in the first quarter of this year, he cautioned that "shares may probably begin to dip from the middle of this year on profit taking and the release of some companies' annual reports would also frustrate many investors who have bet good money on them thinking they will make profit."