China stocks ended higher on Wednesday, aided by strong gains in consumer and transport firms.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 22.85 points or 0.7 % at 3,303.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.86 %, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.49 %, the consumer staples sector up 2.75 %, the real estate index up 0.33 % and healthcare sub-index up 0.67 %.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 0.77 % and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.41 %.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.52 % while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.47 %.

At 07:01 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.6183 per U.S. dollar, 0.05 % firmer than the previous close of 6.6215.

The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Air China Ltd up by 9.73 %, followed by Grinm Advanced Materials Co Ltd gaining 8.78 % and Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd up by 7.44 %.

The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Jinzhou New China Dragon Molybdenum Co Ltd down by 3.7 %, followed by Dr.Peng Telecom & Media Group Co Ltd losing 3.58 % and Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co Ltd down by 3.41 %.

So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 5.71 %, the CSI300 is up 22.4 % this year, while China’s H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 20.4 %. Shanghai stocks have declined 1.1 % this month.

About 11.20 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 65.2 % of the market’s 30-day moving average of 17.17 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 12.46 billion.

As of 07:02 GMT, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 30.02 % over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average.

The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 14.71 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2 %.

So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has fallen by 0.20 % to 28.58 trillion yuan.

 

Source: REUTERS