INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SHANGHAI: China stocks ended marginally higher on Friday, aided by strength in banking shares.
The blue-chip CSI300 index ended 0.2 per
cent higher at 3,325.33 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.2 per cent firmer at 2,729.43 points
For the week, SSEC gained 2.3 per cent while the CSI300 was up 3.0 per cent
Major indexes were down earlier in the day after trade talks between Washington and Beijing ended without any progress.
US and Chinese
officials ended two days of talks on Thursday without any progress
Meanwhile their trade war escalated with activation of another round of duelling tariffs on $16 billion worth of each country's goods
Gains were led by banking sector, up 2.1 per cent
Ping An Bank rallied as much as 9.8 pct to a more than two-month high; analysts see improvement in profitability and asset quality
US fund investors apparently saw a buying opportunity in China despite ongoing trade tensions, adding their most exposure to that market
since January, Lipper data for the latest week showed on Thursday
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.16 per cent while Japan's Nikkei index closed 0.85 per cent higher
At 07:04 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.8826 per US dollar, 0.11 per cent weaker than the previous close of 6.8749
The largest per centage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Wuhan East Lake High Technology Group Co Ltd up 10.08 per cent,
followed by Shenzhen Kingdom SCI-Tech Co Ltd, up 10.02 per cent, and Anhui Great Wall Military Industry Co Ltd up 10.01 per cent.
The
largest per centage losers in the Shanghai index were Gansu Gangtai Holding Group Co Ltd down 10.07 per cent, followed by CSSC Offshore
Marine Engineering Group Co Ltd, down 10.03 per cent and XINJIANG KORLA PEAR CO LTD, down 10.02 per cent
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is down 17.5 per cent, the CSI300 has fallen 17.5 per cent while China's H-share index listed in
Hong Kong is down 7.9 per cent
Shanghai stocks have declined 5.11 per cent this month
About 10.05 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 75.0 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 13.41
The volume in the previous trading session was 9.84 billion
As of 07:05 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 17.40 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares
The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages
The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 11.79 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2.8 per cent
