SHANGHAI: China stocks closed at their highest levels in more than 10 years on Thursday, buoyed by strong gains in semiconductor, gold, and AI-related shares as investors returned from the Golden Week holiday and played catch-up with global markets.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index ended 1.5 percent higher, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.3 percent to 3,933 points, above the 3,900 mark for the first time since August 2015. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng edged down.
Shares of Chinese gold miners jumped, tracking a surge in bullion prices that hit a record high above USD4,000 per ounce on Wednesday.
Onshore non-ferrous metal shares surged 8.2 percent.
The tech-focused STAR50 index gained nearly 3 percent amid renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence.
China’s chipmakers rose as US lawmakers pushed for broader bans on chipmaking equipment sales to China. The CSI All Shares Semiconductor Index was up 2.7 percent.
Despite a reported 11.5 percent year-on-year increase in holiday trips, average spending slightly dropped. Tourism shares fell 1.8 percent.
UBS analysts said in a note that the underlying weakness of holiday spending was evident in declining movie box office revenues and liquor shipments.
Shares of Hang Seng Bank soared as much as 41.2 percent to HKD168, their highest level since February 2022, after key shareholder HSBC proposed to take the bank private. HSBC shares listed in Hong Kong fell 6 percent.
The CSI Rare Earth Index jumped nearly 7 percent, after China tightened its rare earth export controls on Thursday, expanding restrictions on processing technology and unauthorised overseas cooperation.
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