SHANGHAI: China stocks climbed slightly, supported by powerful infrastructure firms and hopes of more policy stimulus after weaker-than-expected bank lending.
The CSI300 index rose 0.7 percent, to 3,527.32 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.0 percent, to 3,252.91 points.
“IPOs have locked money up in the market, causing tight liquidity,” said Li Zheming, an analyst at Datong Securities.
Disappointing lending figures from Chinese banks in December had little impact on market sentiment but the main share index inched higher after the data release.
Some analysts say weaker-than-expected lending, despite official efforts to encourage banks to lend more in the last months of 2014, may bring forward a cut in bank reserve requirement ratios or interest rates.
The Chinese government’s plan to boost investment to the country’s western provinces by 600 billion yuan ($96.9 billion).
Jinggong Steel hit its 10 percent trading limit, Huadian Energy rose 9.980 percent and CSR Corporation, a railway equipment company, climbed 9.780 percent on the Shanghai stock exchange.
China CSI300 stock index futures for January rose 1.0 percent, to 3,532.2, 4.88 points above the current value of the underlying index.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.1 percent, to 24,142.18 points. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index was unchanged at 12,008.65.
“The Hong Kong market is sluggish and lacks focus because the US and European markets are correcting but the Asian market is still going up,” said Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong.
The index measuring price differences between dual-listed companies in Shanghai and Hong Kong stood at 128.77.
A value above 100 indicates Shanghai shares are pricing at a premium to shares in the same company trading in Hong Kong, and vice versa.
Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 13.01 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 6.90 billion shares. Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 0.7 billion shares.
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