Banking industry strong as stocks edge up
China’s stocks edged up on Wednesday, led by the banking industry.
At close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index had climbed 0.30 percent to 2,979.55 points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index advanced 0.17 percent to 11,813.53 points.
The blue chip CSI300 Index increased 0.42 percent to 4138.99 points and the ChiNext Composite Index startup board advanced 0.02 percent to 2,382.47 points.
Turnover on the two major bourses shrank to 728.8 billion yuan (US$103.08 billion), compared with 758.3 yuan in the previous trading session.
Chinese mainland markets saw a net inflow of 3.8 billion yuan in overseas capital via Stock Connect schemes linking Shanghai and Shenzhen with Hong Kong.
Most sectors declined with losers outnumbering gainers by 969 to 621 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,353 to 827 in Shenzhen.
The banking industry posted a strong performance with share prices in the sector advancing 1.52 percent on average.
All 36 companies in the sector gained, led by Jiangsu Zhangjiagang Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd, which increased by 7.22 percent.
Earlier, an executive meeting of the State Council required that the financial system should help enterprises cut 1.5 trillion yuan of costs by various ways such as lowering interest rates, deferring capital and interest repayments and reducing bank charges.
Northeast Securities said cost cuts offered by banks were a certainty now, which is expected to improve the valuation of banking industry.
Huatai Securities said this year will be hard for the banking industry but there are also opportunities accompanying the challenges.