Liquor sector cheers main equity indexes

China’s main equity indexes climbed up on Tuesday, led by the liquor industry.

At close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.18 percent to 2,970.62 points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index advanced 0.78 percent to 11,794.01 points.

The blue chip CSI300 Index increased 0.48 percent to 4121.79 points and the ChiNext Composite Index startup board surged 1.67 percent to 2,382.05 points, an increase for the eighth consecutive day and a record high in four and a half years.

Chinese mainland markets saw a net inflow of 2.54 billion yuan (US$359 million) in overseas capital via Stock Connect schemes linking Shanghai and Shenzhen with Hong Kong.

Turnover on the two major bourses shrank to 758.3 billion yuan, compared with 828.6 billion yuan in the previous trading session.

Most sectors declined with losers outnumbering gainers by 998 to 604 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,437 to 761 in Shenzhen.

Bucking the trend, liquor makers performed strongly, with share prices in the sector increasing by an average of 5.11 percent.

 Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd shares rose by 2.47 percent to 1,474.5 per share, and its market value reached 1.86 trillion yuan.

Analyst said the strong performance in the liquor industry was attributed to the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival.