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China stocks gain 1.08% on oil shares rebound
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-17 20:13

BEIJING - China's stocks rose on Friday for first time in four days led by a rebound in oil shares rebound and a Wall Street rally.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.08 percent to end at 1,930.65 points following a powerful rebound of PetroChina and Sinopec. The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 6,209.51 points, up 0.7 percent.

PetroChina, Asia's biggest oil company, climbed 1.93 percent to 12.13 yuan (US$1.78), and Sinopec, the nation's biggest refiner ended at 8.60 yuan, up 1.65 percent.

China's central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said in an interview with the Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV on Wednesday that China's investment and consumption were sound, and there would be more measures to come to stimulate domestic demand.

Du Ying, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's economic planning agency, also noted on Thursday that the State Council was mulling new policies to prevent further economic recession amid the exacerbating international condition and slowing domestic economy.

Li Feng with Lianhe Securities warned investors should remain cautious as the international financial turmoil would continue.

Property share prices would continue to be volatile and the market talk of the government's new policy to boost the real estate sector had rallied the property shares in the last a few trading days, he said.

Poly Real Estate edged up 1.67 percent to 14.62 yuan, and China Vanke shed 0.59 percent to 6.75 yuan.

Brokerage companies saw sharp gains as the margin trading business for securities firms was expected to begin trial operations in mid-November. Citic Securities, the brokerage unit of the Citic Group, jumped 2.35 percent to 18.72 yuan, and the Shanghai-based Pacific-Haitong Securities rose 2.31 percent to 18.60 yuan.

Coal shares rebounded after losses for two consecutive days as global prices dropped and coal exports slowed. Shenhua, the country's major coal producer, closed at 18.15 yuan, up 0.72 percent. Datong Coal Industry, based in the coal-rich Shanxi Province, rose 4.66 percent to 10.34 yuan.

Kweichow Maotai, China's leading liquor maker dropped to 97.89 yuan from its peak of 230.55 yuan, meaning no stocks were priced above 100 yuan in the Chinese market.

Aggregate turnover fell to 38.21 billion yuan from previous day's 51.32 billion yuan.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 650 to 190 in Shanghai and 567 to 158 in Shenzhen.