Stocks News
- Most shares fall but index hits new high
Date: 12-Oct-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
MOST A shares fell Thursday as investors took profits in many industrial and second-tier stocks, but surging banks and other blue chips, such as oil refiner Sinopec, boosted the main index to a new record.
The Shanghai Composite Index ended up 2.46 percent to 5,913.230 points, just off an all-time, intraday high of 5,914.772 hit in the last few minutes of trade.
But falling Shanghai stocks overwhelmed gainers by 644 to 214. Turnover in Shanghai A shares expanded to a one-month high of 176.2 billion yuan (US$23.5 billion) from Wednesday's 164.4 billion yuan.
Investors were reluctant to push up most sectors because of concern about further tightening of economic policy and with the index near 6,000 points, which is considered major resistance.
On Wednesday, the index's sharp pull-back from its intraday record high suggested to some investors that a downward consolidation might be starting.
But in a repeat of Wednesday's pattern, heavily weighted bank shares were bought actively Thursday on the view that the relatively small premiums of many banks' A shares to their Hong Kong-listed H shares made them good value.
China Minsheng Bank estimated late Wednesday that net profit in the first nine months of this year rose about 70 percent, fueling expectations of strong earnings throughout the sector. Its shares jumped 4.20 percent to 17.38 yuan Thursday.
Industrial Bank surged 6.89 percent to 65.14 yuan after saying it had obtained regulatory approval to buy a small financial institution in the northern city of Harbin.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, the biggest bank, climbed 2.64 percent to 7.79 yuan, bringing its gains so far this week to 18 percent.
Sponsor Results:
