Market edges up at midday as banks gain

By Lydia Chen  |   2008-11-3  |     ONLINE EDITION

SHANGHAI’S key stock index closed higher in the morning session today due to gains among lenders after Xinhua news agency said the central bank removed temporary controls on loans.

The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.80 percent, or 13.80 points, to 1,742.59 points at 11:30am.

Gainers outnumbered losers 410 to 354 while 63 did not change.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic market, was up 0.20 percent, or 0.94 points, to 471.85 points in the morning session.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co, the Chinese partner of Citigroup Inc, advanced 3.66 percent to 12.17 yuan. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, the nation's biggest listed lender, gained 2.49 percent to 3.71 yuan.

The central bank removed controls to maintain “relatively fast'' economic growth and counter the financial crisis, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

The People's Bank of China will closely monitor global financial turmoil and will use a combination of macro-economic policies to boost domestic demand, Li Chao, the central bank's spokesman, was quoted as saying. China has the “full ability'' to counter the financial crisis, Li said, according to Xinhua.

Elsewhere, Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co lost 1.36 percent to 8.70 yuan. The manufacturer of construction equipment had its stock rating cut to “neutral'' from “buy'' and a price target reduced 64 percent to 8.70 yuan by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Co, the world's biggest maker of quayside cranes, inched up 0.75 percent to 6.75 yuan. The company will book a 517 million yuan foreign exchange gain as profit next year, it said in a filing to Shanghai's stock exchange on Saturday. The gain represents 26 percent of the company's 2007 profit, it said.