Chinese stocks closed up on Thursday as insurance, banking and real estate stocks surged.
Both major mainland indices were up more than 2 per cent at the close, the best percentage rise in three weeks.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 2.5 per cent to 3,566.29, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.2 per cent to 3,298.36 points.
Financial firms were responsible for the bulk of Thursday’s rise. “Financial shares have lagged the broad market recently so the rise we see today is a technical rebound,’’ said Hou Yingmin, strategist at AJ Securities Co.
Leading the index higher were the Ping An Insurance Group of China, up 2.7 per cent, and China State Construction Engineering Corp, up almost eight per cent.
Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank of China, up 2.2 per cent at 4.14 yuan; China State Con , up 8.7 per cent at 6.47 yuan; and Agri Bank of CN, up 2.1 per cent at 3.36 yuan.
In Shenzhen, Tcl Corp, up 1.1 per cent at 4.69 yuan; Boe Technology, up 1.0 per cent at 3.09 yuan; and Shenwan Hongyuan, up 2.8 per cent at 15.93 yuan, were among the most actively traded.
Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 30.0 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 16.5 billion shares.