China stocks edged higher on Monday, as investors returning from a long holiday drew optimism from surveys showing improving business confidence.
Both the blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.8 per cent to 3,263.12 and 3,026.05 points, respectively. China’s markets were closed on Thursday and Friday.
The People’s Bank of China had published surveys on Sunday showing business confidence among entrepreneurs in China had picked up for the second quarter in a row in 2016.
Fu Xuejun, an analyst at Huarong Securities, said that despite the apparent improvement in sentiment, there was limited room for the Chinese market to go up further due to uncertainty about the economy and the global liquidity situation.
All main sectors rose, with financial shares leading the gain with an advance of 0.7 per cent.
Nuclear power-related stocks were in the spotlight after Britain gave the go-ahead for a $24-billion Chinese-backed nuclear power plant.
China Nuclear Engineering and SUFA Technology Industry Co Ltd both shot up 10 per cent, the maximum allowed.