China's shares closed slightly higher yesterday after briefly hitting a new intra-day low for this year, as technology counters recovering from recent sharp falls saved the day, brokers said.

A stock investor stands in front of a trading board at the Huayuanlu Office of Guotai Minan Securities Co Ltd in Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan Province, Thursday, November 13, 2003. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell to 1,311.39 points, a record low in 53 months due to the low mood in the market and lack of confidence from investors. [newsphoto.com.cn]

The Shanghai composite index, grouping hard-currency B shares for foreigners and yuan-denominated A shares, inched up 0.14 per cent to 1,319.608 points, bouncing back from the year's intraday low of 1,307.395 points in early trade.

The index had dropped 1.92 per cent to end at 1,317.792 points a day earlier, the lowest close for 2003, after months of slumps due to an overloaded IPO pipeline and a government-ordered tightening of bank loans, brokers said.

Yesterday, the Shenzhen sub-index also gained 1.36 points, or 0.04 per cent to end at 3,183.62 points.

A shares of e-commerce firm Shanghai Maling Aquarius Co Ltd surged their daily limit of 10 per cent to 6.14 yuan (74 US cents) after diving 46.6 per cent since mid-April, compared with a 19.1 per cent decline in the broad market.

"Recent sharp declines eased selling pressure and led to a technical rebound," said analyst Song Huaisong of Fujian Xingye Securities.

"But the rebound, led by tech stocks with poor fundamentals, is likely to lose steam amid weak sentiment," he added.

Still, trade was sluggish with investors having little appetite to take the rebound higher, brokers said.

The poor investor confidence has been exacerbated by a huge planned bond issue by Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, which helped send the index to year lows.

Pudong Bank, in which the world's largest financial services company, Citigroup, has a 4.62 per cent stake, said on Wednesday it plans to issue five-year convertible bonds worth 6 billion yuan (US$725 million) to help its expansion.

Pudong Bank's shares dipped 0.46 per cent to 8.73 yuan (US$1.05), extending losses after hitting a 21-month low on Wednesday, with investors worried the bond issue will lead to a dilution of the lender's earnings over the next few years, brokers said.

In the futures market, Shanghai copper futures performed strongly yesterday in anticipation of a further rise on the London Metal Exchange following the apparent stabilization of what has recently been a volatile market, traders said.

Shanghai's June contract, which replaced May as the most active contract in yesterday's trade, was today's biggest gainer, rising 440 yuan (US$53) to 22,060 yuan (US$2,665), while all other contracts finished up between 210 yuan (US$25.30) and 420 yuan (US$50.60). Volume dropped to 140,444 lots from Wednesday's 185,288 lots.

"Despite today's gains, the market is still a little cautious. Confidence will only be fully restored once LME prices rise above US$2,100 (a ton)," said a trader, shortly before LME three-month copper broke through this level in early European trade yesterday.

At 0753 GMT, LME three-month copper was quoted at US$2,104/US$2,107 compared with US$2,098 at the close on Wednesday.

Shanghai's spot copper range widened yesterday to 21,340-21,540 yuan (US$2,571-US$2,595) a ton from Wednesday's 21,410-21,470 yuan (US$2,579-US$2,586) a ton, highlighting lingering uncertainty among investors.

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