China: Stocks rise at open after cuts to interest rates, reserve requirements

[SHANGHAI] China's major stock indexes opened up on Wednesday after aggressive monetary easings announced by the central bank on Tuesday evening following a massive market slide.

The CSI300 index rose 0.7 per cent to 3,062.57 points at 1:26 GMT, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 per cent to 2,980.79 points.

The benchmark indexes had tumbled 19 per cent in the previous three sessions.

China CSI300 stock index futures for September rose 0.4 per cent, to 2,842, -220.57 points below the current value of the underlying index.

The People's Bank of China cut interest rates and lowered the amount of reserves banks must hold for the second time in two months on Tuesday, ratcheting up support for a stumbling economy and a plunging stock market China's Financial Futures Exchanges announced Wednesday morning that they will raise transaction fees and margin requirements for index futures to curb speculation.

Benchmark mainland indexes gave up all the gains made from Beijing's unprecedented stock market rescue in July, in which hundreds of billions of dollars were directed into the market, and this week entered negative territory for the year-to-date.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 0.1 per cent, to 21,434.25 points.

REUTERS