Shanghai index moves higher at midday break

By Lydia Chen  |   2008-6-16  |     ONLINE EDITION

SHANGHAI'S key stock index gained at the midday break today after last week's nearly 14 percent loss dragged it to its lowest level since March last year.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, gained 1.06 percent, or 30.35 points, to 2,899.15 at 11:30am.

Losers in the Shanghai market outnumbered gainers 465 to 296 while 29 were unchanged.

The Shanghai index has slid since the central bank ordered lenders to set aside record reserves to curb inflation on June 7. It opened at 2,876.29 points at 9am today, 7.49 percentage points higher than 2,868.80 when it closed on Friday.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic stock exchange, was down 0.50 percent, or 4.25 points, to 851.55 today.

The gains in Shanghai were driven by oil-related shares and banking stocks, two sectors that were severely battered last week.

Sinopec, the nation's biggest oil refiner, added 5.56 percent to 11.77 yuan (US$1.71) while PetroChina, the largest oil producer and the biggest heavyweight in the market, jumped 2.74 percent to 15.40 yuan.

Banks also performed strongly this morning.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest lender, rose 2.36 percent to 5.20 yuan. China Construction Bank, the second biggest, climbed 1.12 percent to 6.30 yuan while China Merchants Bank increased 4.29 percent to 24.32 yuan.

Construction Bank said shareholders approved a plan to sell as much as 40 billion yuan of subordinated bonds to raise capital. The bank may issue 5 billion yuan of the debt in Hong Kong as part of the sale, it said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange on June 14.

Insurers followed the early session's jump. China Life Insurance Co, the biggest insurer, gained 1.78 percent to 25.68 yuan while China Ping An Insurance also increased 1.81 percent to 49.94 yuan.