SHANGHAI: China’s benchmark indexes rose on Monday morning, with a jump in banking and transportation stocks offsetting a slump in tech shares as investors dumped small caps for blue chips on concern about a regulatory crackdown on excessive valuations.
The CSI300 index rose 0.7 percent, ending morning trade at 5,268.63 points. while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.9 percent, to 5,068.47 points. Hong Kong stocks were also firmer by midday.
Shenzhen’s tech-heavy growth board ChiNext slumped 4.3 percent, after China’s asset management association called on mutual fund managers to refrain from speculative trading and from blindly following the market trend.
The caution came after mutual funds were blamed by local media for contributing to ChiNext’s lofty valuations. The growth board currently trades at 143 times earnings – a valuation that rivals the tech-heavy Nasdaq in the U.S. at the height of the dotcom bubble.
