Chinese equities rose 1.38 percent Thursday after Premier Wen Jiabao called for stronger supervision of stock markets and a crackdown on crimes such as share price manipulation and insider trading.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.38 percent, or 32.49 points to close at 2379.88. The Shenzhen Component Index was up 1.5 percent, or 133.34 points to close at 9030.31.
Gains outnumbered losses by 740 to 164 in Shanghai and 670 to 112 in Shenzhen.
Combined turnover shrank to 166.94 billion yuan (24.44 billion U.S. dollars) from 208.84 billion yuan the previous trading day.
Macro-economic indicators showed some signs of recovery Thursday as the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the business climate index, a main gauge of macro-economic outlook, declined slower than in the previous quarter.
The quarterly business climate index slipped from 107 at the end of last year to 105.6 in the first quarter, but the decline was much smaller than a drop of 21.6 points in the last quarter of 2008, according to the NBS.
The index ranges from zero to 200. A reading above 100 shows economic expansion, while a reading below 100 indicates contraction.
Meanwhile, the entrepreneur confidence index, a gauge of the understanding, views and projections of business people, rose 6.5 points from three months ago to 101.1 in the first quarter, the NBS said.
Share prices for insurers led the gains Thursday, after Ping An Insurance, the second largest insurer by market value, released its annual report Wednesday which said it began to profit in the fourth quarter last year despite yearly net profit dipped more than 94 percent in 2008.
Share prices were up for Ping An Insurance, which rose 5.95 percent to 41.13 yuan, China Pacific Insurance, up 5.3 percent to 17.49 yuan, and China Life, up 4.2 percent to 23.59 yuan.
Also Wednesday, the Ministry of Commerce said prices for means of production rose for the first time in six weeks. Prices for energy, non-ferrous metals and farm-use products rose, but those for ore, steel sectors fell.
Analysts said price reductions became a major means for steel producers to attract customers. In addition, iron ore prices could fall, which meant steel prices might drop more in the near future.
Share prices for Baoshan Iron & Steel, the largest steel producer, rose 0.53 percent to 5.67 yuan, while those of Angang Steel rose 2.19 percent to 8.41 yuan and Wuhan Steel Processing 2.07 percent to 7.39 yuan.
Source: Xinhua
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