China stocks boosted by railway, home appliance sectors

BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed slightly higher on Wednesday, with railway, home appliance and medical sectors performing well.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.32 percent, or 6.53 points, to 2,068.88, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed at 8,369.8, up 75.56 points, or 0.9 percent.

Combined turnover stood at 81.43 billion yuan (12.8 billion U.S. dollars) on Wednesday. Gainers outnumbered losers by 563 to 336 in Shanghai and by 941 to 501 in Shenzhen.

Railway shares led Wednesday's rally on reports that the finance ministry is considering subsidizing universal services on railways. Jinxi Axle Company Limited was up by the daily limit of 10 percent to 12.71 yuan.

Home appliance producers also boomed as Chinese air conditioner giant Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. of Zhuhai reported a 57.25 percent rise in its third-quarter net profit. The company's shares jumped by 7.85 percent to 23.09 yuan.

The medical sector also witnessed a strong performance on Wednesday, with Yunnan Baiyao Group Co., Ltd. up 6.99 percent to 65.6 yuan. Joincare Pharmaceutical Group Industry Co., Ltd. climbed 4.38 percent to 4.53 yuan.

All of the 2,493 companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen unveiled third-quarter reports by Wednesday. Business revenues stood at 17.74 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of the year, up 6 percent year-on-year, according to the two bourses.

However, their combined net profit was slightly lower than last year's level, totaling 1.5 trillion yuan for the nine-month period.

Analysts are more confident on fourth-quarter performance due to the stabilizing economy. Also, many companies have expressed optimism in their full-year performance forecast.

"China's GDP growth stabilized in the third quarter and will rebound in the fourth," said Peng Wensheng, chief economist of the China International Capital Corp. Ltd.. He expected China's GDP to grow by 7.5 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter.

China's GDP growth slowed to 7.4 percent in the third quarter of the year, which marked a decline of seven consecutive quarters.

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