SHANGHAI: China shares rose on Thursday for a third consecutive session, as slowing factory-gate inflation added to investor hopes that policymakers may be able to act to boost slowing economic growth.

** China's factory-gate inflation cooled slightly in November, driven by a government crackdown on runaway commodity prices and an easing power crunch, potentially giving policymakers some latitude to unleash more stimulus.

** At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.98% at 3,673.04, taking gains for the week to more than 1.8%. ** The blue-chip CSI300 index jumped 1.66%, marking a more than 3.6% rise for the week so far.

** The financial sector subindex rose 1.55%, the consumer staples sector added 1.78% and the healthcare subindex gained 2.58%.

** The real estate index jumped 2.42% as hopes of a managed debt restructuring at developer China Evergrande Group calmed fears of a messy corporate collapse after it missed a debt payment deadline this week.

** The rights of shareholders and creditors of Evergrande will be "fully respected" based on their legal seniorities, central bank governor Yi Gang said on Thursday.

** The smaller Shenzhen index ended 0.84% higher and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index rose 1.011%.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed 0.47% lower.

** The yuan eased to 6.3444 per US dollar from its close on Wednesday of 6.3438 despite its daily midpoint fixing being set at a three-and-a-half-year high, but remained near its highest levels since May 2018.

** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index has gained 5.8% and the CSI300 has fallen 2.5%, while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is down 19.4%. Shanghai stocks have risen 3.06% this month.