China stocks rally

China stocks started 2018 on a bullish note following a survey showing better-than-expected manufacturing activity in December. A private business survey showed growth in China's manufacturing sector unexpectedly rose to a four-month high in December thanks to a surge in new orders.
The Shanghai Composite index closed up 41.88 points or 1.27 percent at 3,349.05. The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 1.41 percent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 2.05 percent, the consumer staples sector up 0.51 percent, the real estate index up 3.79 percent and healthcare sub-index up 0.03 percent.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended 1.05 percent up and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.97 percent. Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was 1.08 percent firmer while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.08 percent.
At 07:01 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.4953 per US dollar, 0.18 percent firmer than the previous close of 6.5069. The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Fujian Cement Inc up 10.04 percent, followed by Shandong Lubei Chemical Co Ltd gaining 10.03 percent and China Jushi Co Ltd up by 10.01 percent.
The largest percentage losers were BOCO Inter-Telecom Co Ltd down 5.03 percent, followed by Jiangsu Protruly Vision Technology Group Co Ltd down 4.96 percent and HUAYU Automotive Systems Co Ltd down by 4.65 percent. About 20.23 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 133.4 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 15.16 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 0.00.
As of 07:02 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.17 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 14.87 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 1.9 percent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has risen by 0.07 percent to 28.92 trillion yuan.