Stocks gain as companies urge workers to buy shares

SHANGHAI - Chinese mainland stocks rose on Wednesday as a growing number of listed firms encouraged employees to buy shares, and as the central bank injected more funds into the banking system to ease fears of a midyear liquidity crunch.

Hopes that Morgan Stanley's Capital Index will include China's A shares in its indexes later this month also whetted investors' appetite for big-cap stocks, with more investment banks predicting a good chance of such a move.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.23 percent to 3,140.33.