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Shares hit one-year high driven by financial stocks

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-26 17:14

BEIJING: Chinese equities rose to a one-year high Friday, driven by financial stocks.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 3.16 points, or 0.11 percent, to close at 2,928.21. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 27.29 points, or 0.24 percent to end at 11,413.17.

Related readings:  Mainland shares decline  Chinese shares hit one-year high driven by insurance stocks  Chinese shares end at one-year high  Chinese shares fall, tracking overnight Wall Street slump  Chinese shares hit 11-month high, driven by financial stocks

Total turnover was 178.40 billion yuan (US$26.12 billion), slightly shrinking from 196.76 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 439 to 372 in Shanghai and 400 to 317 in Shenzhen.

Shares of most banks gained, boosted by news Thursday from the central bank that China would maintain a moderately loose monetary policy to support economic growth.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. rose 2.02 percent and China Construction Bank gained 1.15 percent.

Banks may provide more than 1 trillion yuan of new loans in June, the third highest in loans among the first six months following the highest loans of 1.89 trillion in March and 1.62 trillion in January, said Friday's China Securities Journal, citing unidentified sources.

Shares of most coal producers gained, boosted by international oil price hikes. China Shenhua Energy Company Limited, the country's top coal producer, edged up 0.08 percent.

Crude prices moved higher and settled at 70.23 dollars a barrel Thursday after the Shell company said one of its pipeline junction points had been shut down because of militants attack in Nigeria, the largest oil producer in Africa.