Market rebounds for first gain in 8 trading days

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

SHANGHAI'S key stock index rose for the first time in eight trading days today, recovering a touch after last week's nearly 14 percent loss dragged it to its lowest level since March 2007.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, edged up 0.18 percent, or 5.30 points, to 2,874.10 at 3pm.

Losers in the Shanghai market outnumbered gainers 617 to 163 while 10 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 battered last week.

Sinopec, the nation's biggest oil refiner, added 6.64 percent to 11.89 yuan (US$1.72) while PetroChina, the largest oil producer and the biggest heavyweight in the market, jumped 2.60 percent to 15.38 yuan.

China Merchants Bank Co had the biggest gain in more than two weeks as some investors judged recent losses as excessive. China Merchants increased 3.86 percent to 24.22 yuan, its biggest advance since May 14.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest lender, rose 1.97 percent to 5.18 yuan while

But China Construction Bank, the second biggest, dipped 0.32 percent to 6.21 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.