China and Hong Kong stocks extended their New Year rally on Friday, underpinned by robust gains in real estate firms. At 04:02 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was up 7.95 points or 0.23 per cent at 3,393.66. China's blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.24 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.61 per cent, the consumer staples sector down 0.4 per cent , the real estate index up 4.77 per cent and healthcare sub-index up 0.14 per cent.
Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.19 per cent at 12,226.95, while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.18 per cent at 30,791.59. The smaller Shenzhen index was up 0.16 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.54 per cent.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.47 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index was up 0.51 per cent. The yuan was quoted at 6.4812 per US dollar, 0.2 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.494.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 2.37 percent, while China's H-share index is up 4.2 per cent. Shanghai stocks have risen 2.37 per cent this month.
The top gainers among H-shares were China Vanke Co Ltd up 7.25 per cent, followed by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp gaining 2.12 per cent and China Railway Group Ltd up by 1.86 per cent. The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Byd Co Ltd which has fallen 1.56 per cent, China Pacific Insurance Group Co Ltd which has lost 1.3 per cent and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd down by 1.2 per cent.
About 11.58 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 75.8 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 15.28 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 20.70 billion as of the last full trading day.
As of 04:02 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 27.94 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. The Shanghai stock index is above its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 15.24 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 1.9 per cent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has risen by 2.59 per cent to 29.65 trillion yuan.
In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares rose 0.8 per cent, while the IT sector fell 0.1 per cent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was Country Garden Holdings Company Ltd up 5.28 per cent, while the biggest loser was Hengan International Group Company Ltd which was down 3.28 per cent.