Shares steady, steelmakers in demand

The mainland stock market ended up 0.37 percent yesterday, hitting a four-week closing high for a second day in a row after a surge in brokerage shares helped to pull the benchmark index into positive territory late in the session.

Steel shares also outperformed after Baoshan Iron and Steel hiked prices for March, although property shares were soft and other blue chips were mixed.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended at 1994.107 points, while turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to 55.5 billion yuan from 81 billion yuan on Monday.