BIZCHINA / News
Stocks on bull run despite ratio rise, 04/30
By Zhang Ran (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-05-08 10:31
China's stock market ended at record highs on April 30 on the last
trading day of April, despite a central bank announcement the previous
day that it would raise the reserve requirement ratio for banks to help
curb lending growth.
The Shanghai Composite Index surged 2.16 percent to end at 3841.27
points, the highest-ever close. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.6
percent to 1,064.77, also a record closing high.
The market is closed the rest of the week for the Labor Day holiday, but
may continue to climb after the break, with the Shanghai index likely to
test the 4,000 level by mid-May, analysts said.
The market reopens May 8.
"Sentiment is stable, as the latest reserve requirement ratio reduces the
possibility of a near-term interest rate hike," Tao Zhifeng, an analyst
at CSC International Holdings, said.
On Sunday, the People's Bank of China said it will raise the amount of
money banks must hold in reserve for the fourth time this year, reducing
the amount available for lending in a new effort to cool an investment
boom.
The half percentage point increase, which brings the level to 11 percent
for most commercial banks, takes effect May 15.
The market accepted the ratio raise as a less harsh monetary tightening
policy than an interest rate hike.
"In fact, any macro-economic level control should be seen as positive
because it is healthy to the market in the long term," Zhao Jianxing, an
analyst with China Merchants Securities, said.
As China' stock market heads toward 4,000 points, global leading
financial firm JP Morgan Securities announced that it had raised its
year-end MSCI China, and H-share index, two major indexes to monitor
Chinese companies' performance in the Hong Kong stock market to 63 and
12,000, up by about 17 percent.
"We think fundamentals continue to move in the right direction," Frank
Gong, JP Morgan Securities' Head of China Research said last week in its
annual conference in Beijing.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
Related Stories
� Chinese shares close lower,04/27
===========================================================================
� Chinese shares rise to new record, led by bank stocks, 04/25
===========================================================================
� Index keeps climbing, 04/24
===========================================================================
� Index edges up, 04/26
===========================================================================
Learn Chinese
No comments:
Post a Comment