SHANGHAI: China stocks closed higher on Monday, with semiconductors and new-energy shares leading the gains, as investors cheered the central bank's attempt to strike a balance between economic growth and risk controls.

** The blue-chip CSI300 index ended up 0.5% at 4,912.40, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6% to 3,582.08 points.

** China's central bank said on Friday it would keep its prudent monetary policy "flexible and targeted".

** Noumra said some changes in the wording of the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) third-quarter monetary policy implementation report represented an official change to the central bank's policy stance and set the stage for more decisive monetary and credit easing.

** "We expect the chance for an RRR cut to rapidly rise in the next couple of months, but we still view the likelihood of a policy rate cut as quite small," Nomura said in a note.

** China stood pat on its benchmark lending rates for corporate and household loans for a 19th month at its November fixing on Monday, in line with market expectations.

** The PBOC also said it saw risks in the property market generally under control.

** Real-estate developers slumped 4%, retreating from the previous session's jump fuelled by policy easing bets.

** "We do not yet see a sharp shift in the ongoing property curbs," Nomura said.

** "We believe the worst for both the property market and the overall economy is yet to come, and only then (perhaps in spring 2022) will we see some real changes to the property curbs."

** The start-up board ChiNext and the tech-focused STAR Market rose more than 2% each.

** Semiconductors and new-energy stocks surged 5.1% and 3.6%, respectively.