China: Stock indexes post biggest weekly gains in 3 months; financials jump

[SHANGHAI] China stocks rebounded on Friday afternoon from a lacklustre morning, led by financial shares, which analysts expect to benefit from increasing bullishness about mainland markets.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 1.4 per cent, to 3,892.57, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.0 per cent, to 3,617.32 points.

For the week, the CSI300 rose 7.6 per cent while SSEC was up 7.25 per cent, their biggest weekly gains in three months.

The CSI300 Financials subindex jumped nearly 3 per cent, with brokerages CITIC Securities, China Merchants Securities and Western Securities all up more than 8 per cent.

Analysts attributed the gains in part to signs of resurgent trading volumes and margin financing, and to expectations of further monetary easing.

Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 51.5 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 29.7 billion shares.

REUTERS