BEIJING: China’s stocks rose, with the benchmark index heading for its biggest weekly gain in a month, as the central bank endorsed the flow of funds into shares and coal companies surged on a government pledge to curb oversupply.
Yanzhou Coal Mining Co. rallied by the 10 percent daily limit and Datong Coal Industry Co. gained 4.3 percent, leading a gauge of energy producers to the biggest gain among industry groups. Ping An Bank Co. climbed 3 percent after saying net income increased 30 percent last year. China Southern Airlines Co. and Air China Ltd. advanced at least 6 percent after U.S. crude dropped to a six-week low.
The Shanghai Composite Index climbed 0.4 percent to 3,363.55 at the 11:30 a.m. local-time break, extending its increase this week to 3.8 percent. People’s Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan said at a press conference on Thursday he disagreed with the view that credit funds flowing to the equity market aren’t helpful to economic growth.
Zhou’s comments “support gains in the stock market and reassure investors that the rally is still healthy,” said Wang Zheng, the Shanghai-based chief investment officer at Jingxi Investment Management Co. “The market can break out of the resistance eventually to rise further.”
The CSI 300 Index climbed 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index advanced 1.5 percent and the Hang Seng Index gained 0.2 percent. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index, the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, added 0.2 percent in New York on Thursday.
Stocks rallied Thursday after data showed growth in aggregate finance and money supply exceeded estimates, while figures earlier in the week showed industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment trailed projections.
