China: Stocks rise for 4th day, property shares jump again

[SHANGHAI] China stocks rose for the fourth straight day on Thursday, recovering most of last Friday's 5-per cent loss, as banking and property heavyweights propped up main indexes, while fears arising from the government's crackdown on brokerages receded.

The market was also supported by some of the roughly 2 trillion yuan (S$440.6 billion) locked up in Tuesday's initial public offerings flowing back into equities.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.7 per cent, to 3,749.30, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.4 per cent, to 3,584.82 points.

The market witnessed another day of strong performance in banking and property stocks, with investors ignoring weak November service sector performance.

ChiNext, Shenzhen's start-up board, also recovered the previous two sessions' losses, up 3.5 per cent, as some of the money locked up in IPOs earlier this week was returned to investors. "Investors seemed to have digested all the recent news, particularly the news related to regulatory supervision," said Gerry Alfonso, Shanghai-based director of Shenwan Hongyuan Securities. "There continues to be considerable expectation for stimulus, with property shares clearly benefiting from it." China Vanke Co Ltd advanced 5 per cent to a fresh 8-year high, having already surged 20 per cent during the previous two sessions.

The share jump prodded Goldman Sachs to remove Vanke from its conviction buy list, but the investment bank said it maintains a bullish view of the stock.

REUTERS