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China's shares reversed early falls to end higher Wednesday as a renewed message of government support for the markets drove investors to snap up heavyweights such as CITIC Securities.
The first brokerage to float stocks saw its yuan-denominated A shares surge 9.59 percent to 8.11 yuan, buoyed partly by talks that regulators would soon give cash-strapped brokerages a new financing channel by allowing them to issue bonds.
However, a spokeswoman said the China Securities Regulatory Commission did not have a timetable for putting that plan, announced earlier, into effect.
The benchmark Shanghai composite index, which groups A shares and hard-currency B shares, finished 23.123 points or 1.52 percent higher at 1,543.674 points, having slipped 0.67 percent in early trade, while the Shenzhen sub-index also gained 72.78 points or 2.31 percent to close at 3219.08.
Shenzhen's B-share index closed up 1.52 percent at 212.02 points, while Shanghai's rose 0.41 percent to 123.595. B shares are open to Chinese and foreign investors.
Punters have long expected the government to take steps to support indices which have fallen 31 percent from their peak in mid-2001, in part due to persistently poor corporate results.
"Renewed talk of pro-market policies triggered a buying spree late today, but it is too early to say this rise indicates an upward trend," said analyst Zhang Qi at Haitong Securities.
Analysts cited uncertainties such as a possible procession of poor results at the height of the annual corporate reporting season, which lasts until April 30, and the unfolding Iraq War.
Loss-makers bucked the markets' upward trend yesterday.
Chicken breeder Shanghai Dajiang Group's B shares were the heaviest fallers, dropping 6.91 percent to US$0.431. Investors predicted another poor showing when Dajiang, in the red in 2000 and 2001, reports 2002 results on April 26.
Motorcycle manufacturer North Jianshe was Shenzhen's biggest B-share decliner, sliding 4.04 percent to HK$2.14 after it posted a big loss for 2002 - its second straight annual loss.
Shanghai's A-share index ended up 1.54 percent at 1,614.749 points. Shenzhen's rose 1.01 percent to 448.59.
China United Telecommunications Corp's A shares surged 5.25 percent to end at 3.21 yuan, having fallen 1.31 percent earlier on Wednesday due to profit-taking, after a large batch of the blue chip's shares hit the market, brokers said.
Unicom listed 1.732 billion shares placed with institutions at only 2.3 yuan each during an initial public offering in 2002.
(China Daily April 10, 2003)
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