BEIJING: China stocks rose on Friday, encouraged by strong gains on Wall Street and signs of fresh support from Beijing after a five-day plunge that panicked global markets.
But gains in major indexes were tempered by weakness in banks, which reported virtually no profit growth in the first-half and mounting bad loans, adding to worries that the economy may be at risk of a sharper slowdown than earlier expected.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.5 percent to 3,254.27 points by midday, paring some of its early gains. The Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.9 percent to 3,143.02 points.
Still, the indexes are heading for a weekly fall of about 10 percent, and a monthly slide of around 14 percent, with the Shanghai market on course to register its worst monthly performance since Aug 2009.
Hong Kong stocks also rose. The Hang Seng index added 0.5 percent to 21,948.61 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 0.1 percent, to 9,874.14.
After a fresh bout of heavy selling early in the week, market sentiment in China appears to be calming down.
The central bank cut interest rates and banks’ reserve requirements late on Tuesday, and the government has moved to put more money into the market in addition to the billions it mobilised in early summer to avert a full-blown market crash.
