SHANGHAI: Mainland China stocks ended higher on Monday, tracking gains in regional peers, while Beijing called for more efforts to stabilise the market.
At the close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite index rose 0.3 percent, while the blue-chip CSI300 index inched up 0.1 percent.
The smaller Shenzhen index was unchanged for the day, the startup board ChiNext Composite index lost 0.3 percent, and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR50 index gained 0.3 percent.
The gains followed a pledge by China’s State Council on Friday to improve mechanisms to stabilise the capital market and enhance the stock market’s inherent stability, state television CCTV reported.
“China’s economic data and equity performance have again breached policymakers’ pain threshold, prompting fresh equity market support measures,” analysts at Societe Generale said in a note.
“These may put a floor under sentiment, but sustained upside requires stronger corporate profits, hence better domestic demand and reflation — still elusive without more forceful fiscal support.”
China’s producer inflation accelerated to its fastest rate in nearly 4-1/2 years in October as higher global oil prices raised manufacturing costs, even as consumer inflation cooled amid weak domestic demand, data showed on Monday.
China’s goods exports are expected to have surged by a third in October, a Reuters poll showed, a helpful offset to weak domestic demand even as a year-to-date trade surplus of more than USD1 trillion risks further antagonising trading partners.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index edged down 0.1 percent, while the city’s tech shares lost 0.9 percent.
In the region, Asian markets and US equity futures had an upbeat start, edging into positive territory after a wild week when tech-heavy markets in Asia suffered some of their steepest falls in years over AI.
Separately, China said on Monday it would extend the suspension of its additional tariff of 24 percent on US imports and the suspension of special port fees on US-linked ships for two months.