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Finance Street leads mainland's stocks gains

(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-02-12 14:47

Stocks on the Chinese mainland rose, driving the benchmark index to its highest level in almost two weeks. Finance Street Holding Co led property developers higher after reporting a 29 percent jump in 2006 earnings.

"Housing demand in big cities is high and real estate companies like Finance Street Holdings Co have strong land reserves," said Liang Feng, who manages the equivalent of US$40.3 million in Citic Fund Management Co inBeijing.

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"Developers' revenue growth prospects remain positive."

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp gained after crude oil prices retreated from their highest level this year, which will cut costs at Asia's biggest refiner, according to Bloomberg.

TheShanghaiComposite Index, which tracks the bigger of the mainland's stock exchanges, increased 1.7 percent to 2,776.80. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the smaller one, added 2.1 percent to 691.96.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index, which tracks yuan- denominatedA shareslisted on the mainland's two exchanges, rose 53.91, or 2.3 percent, to 2,451.16 at the 11:30am local-time break. It's headed for its highest close since January 30.

Finance Street Holding Co, a developer in Beijing's financial district, jumped 1.11 yuan (14 US cents), or 8.6 percent, to 14 yuan. The company said profit last year rose to 525 million yuan from 409 million yuan as sales surged.