China: Shares end higher as tech counters surge

[SHANGHAI] China's tech-heavy start-up board ChiNext jumped nearly 3 per cent on Wednesday to a 4-month high, lifting the broader market, which was initially dragged by cyclical sectors.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.7 per cent, to 3,781.61, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.9 per cent, to 3,647.93 points.

Investors, encouraged by a series of government policies to promote innovation and entrepreneurship, ploughed money into tech stocks, while paying little heed to geopolitical tensions after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet. "Despite rising volatility recently, the general trend of the market is still upward," said Yang Hai, strategist at Kaiyuan Securities. "The government will likely maintain loose monetary policies to ensure smooth economic restructuring." Investor enthusiasm for small caps spread to blue chips as well, lifting sectors such as banks and infrastructure out of negative territory by late afternoon.

In a sign of growing confidence that China's stock markets are stabilising, the securities regulator has lifted an order that required brokerages to buy more shares each day than they sell for proprietary trading.

REUTERS