BEIJING: China’s stocks rose, halting the benchmark index’s biggest loss in a month, as technology and health-care companies rallied ahead of a top-level Communist Party meeting next week to discuss the nation’s economic and social plans for the next five years.
The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.2 percent to 3,328.49 at the break, after slumping 3.1 percent on Wednesday. Trading volumes were 10 percent higher than the 30-day average for this time of the day. East Money Information Co. and Lepu Medical Technology Beijing Co. climbed more than 6 percent. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., which is reporting earnings later this month, slumped 3.6 percent on concern the slowing economy may have hurt profit growth.
The Shanghai Composite has rebounded 9.4 percent in October, heading for the steepest monthly advance in six months, amid speculation the government will loosen monetary policy and announce more overhauls of state-owned enterprises to bolster the economy. The Communist Party meets for its fifth plenary session starting Oct. 26.
“I feel investors are treading cautiously after yesterday’s decline, as they are looking to see if there will be government support,” said Bernard Aw, a Singapore-based strategist at IG Asia Pte. “This reflects nervousness in the markets ahead of next week’s risk events, including the fifth plenum and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting.”
Chinese stocks plunged Wednesday, led by small-company shares, on concern an equity rebound had gone too far. The ChiNext index, which trades at a multiple of 71 times — four times more expensive than the Shanghai gauge — rebounded 3.4 percent on Thursday, paring yesterday’s 6.6 percent slump.
