BEIJING: China stocks closed higher on Thursday, recovering in the afternoon from a tumble rooted in a remark by the central bank governor taken to mean that no policy easing is coming soon.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.5 percent, to 3,567.61, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent, to 3,343.34 points.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, People’s Bank of China chief Zhou Xiaochuan said policy should remain “stable”, which disappointed investors wanting a policy move to help speed up growth. China should continue its neutral monetary policy, he said.
Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank of China , down 1.0 percent to 4.84 yuan; China Shipbuilding Industry Co, up 7.7 percent to 9.19 yuan and Zijin Mining, up 4.0 percent to 3.92 yuan.
In Shenzhen, Vanke, up 4.1 percent to 13.58 yuan; BOE Technology, unchanged at 3.19 yuan and Guosen Securities, down 1.1 percent to 23.85 yuan were among the most actively traded.
Foreign investment flowing into Shanghai from Hong Kong through the mutual market access pilot programme took up 0.25 billion yuan of the 13 billion yuan daily quota.