BEIJING: China’s benchmark stock index rose, led by financial companies and airlines, before the release of economic data including industrial production.
Bank of China Ltd. and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co. advanced more than 1 percent. China Southern Airlines Co. jumped 9.6 percent and China Eastern Airlines Corp. surged 5.3 percent as crude oil traded below $49 a barrel.
The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3 percent to 3,295.90 at the 11:30 a.m. break. Factory output probably rose 7.7 percent in the January-February period, retail sales increased 11.6 percent and fixed-asset investment grew 15 percent, according to the median estimates of Bloomberg surveys.
“The market is expecting the data won’t be too bad as we are in the process of reforms and economic transformation,” said Dai Ming, a fund manager at Hengsheng Asset Management Co. in Shanghai. “The market is confident that China’s economy will stabilize and won’t have a big problem such as a hard landing.”
The CSI 300 Index added 0.3 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was little changed at 11:41 a.m., while the Hang Seng Index slipped 0.3 percent.
