China: Stocks post 7th week of gains as interest shifts to blue chips

[SHANGHAI] China stocks rose to fresh seven-year highs on Friday, posting their seventh straight week of gains, as investor interest shifted from pricy small caps to blue chip shares.

"Index futures reflect market expectations, so the flood of money gushing into the stock market will be guided into blue chips," said Zhang Chen, analyst at Shanghai-based hedge fund manager Hongyi Investment.

Last week, 1.68 million new A-share accounts were opened in China, the highest weekly reading in 10 years of available history. That puts the tally of new A-share account openings in China at more than 6 million just in the past month, significantly higher than the entire population of Los Angeles.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 1.8 per cent, to 4,596.14, while the Shanghai Composite Index (SSE) gained 2.2 per cent, to 4,287.30 points.

For the week, CSI300 rose 5.8 per cent and the SSE gained 6.3 per cent.

REUTERS