BEIJING: Chinese stocks rose for second day, erasing the benchmark index’s loss this week, amid speculation the government is ratcheting up market-support measures as more companies resume trading after being halted during a rout.
The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.4 percent to 3,875.50 at the break. Property companies climbed before Saturday’s home-price data, while a gauge of technology shares headed for their biggest weekly advance in two months. A total of 545 stocks were halted on mainland exchanges, or about 19 percent of all listings.
In the latest effort to reverse a market rout that wiped out almost $4 trillion, 17 banks granted a 2 trillion yuan ($322 billion) credit line to China Securities Finance Corp., a state-backed agency that provides margin finance and liquidity to the stock market, Caijing reported Friday. Policy makers have already banned large shareholders from selling stakes, ordered state-run institutions to buy equities and let more than half of companies on mainland exchanges halt trading.
“We seem to be experiencing a noticeable change in sentiment with investors seeing that the actions from the authorities did manage to support the market,” said Gerry Alfonso, a sales trader at Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co. in Shanghai. “The recovery of the market seems to continue with investors returning to their pre-correction strategies.”
