Mainland stocks climb as commodity firms gain

Chinese mainland stocks rose the most this month, led by commodity producers and financial companies, amid signs of a pickup in industrial demand.

The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 1.6 percent, with a gauge of materials shares rising to its highest close in three months. The nation's producer prices increased 0.5 percent last month from February, the first gain since September 2013, official data showed on Monday. Inflation was 2.3 percent in March versus a year earlier, unchanged from the previous month's gain.

The increase in producer prices added to evidence of a stabilization in the world's second-biggest economy, including central bank data released last week showing an unexpected rise in foreign exchange reserves. China also announced plans on Friday to ease risk-management curbs on brokerages in the latest sign that regulators are gradually normalizing policy measures since last summer's $5 trillion market rout.