Chinese bourse turnover exceeds 1 trillion yuan amid New Year rebound

China's stock markets saw total turnover exceeding 1 trillion yuan (US$157 billion) on the first trading day of the Year of the Rabbit.

The long-lost robust turnover on the two major bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen topped 1.06 trillion yuan on Monday, the first time the one-day trading volume surpassed the 1-trillion-yuan mark since December 9, 2022.

All the three major indexes for A shares opened high on Monday morning, but then swung up and down amid an overall cautious market sentiment.

As of the closing bell, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.14 percent to 3,269.32 points, and the smaller Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.98 percent to 12,097.76 points.

The STAR 50 index, meanwhile, closed 0.24 percent higher at 1,031.61 points, while the ChiNext index advanced 1.08 percent to 2,613.89 points.

Sharp gains

Among individual stocks, over a hundred stocks achieved sharp gains of over 9 percent, while only one stock tumbled by 9-plus percent.

Shares of 3,820 listed firms on the two major bourses rose, 1,100 declined, and 138 remained flat from the previous trading day, according to Wind Information.

Huatai Securities said that the domestic economy showed robust recovery momentum during the Spring Festival holiday, with rebounding offline consumption, especially in the tourism and film sectors.

China Merchants Securities, meanwhile, expected the A shares to run up at a faster pace in the short term.

As for industries, automobile companies and auto parts firms led the gains on the day, after some new-energy vehicle makers announced price cuts or discounts during the Chinese New Year holiday, giving a boost to the auto market.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai government just announced that it will continue to offer subsidies for the purchase of NEVs to replace old cars in 2023.

Also performing strongly were shares related to AIGC, or artificial intelligence generated content, with an overall daily increase of over 4 percent, as many tech firms and analysts of financial institutions are bullish on the sector.

Microsoft recently announced new investment in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, to extend their ongoing collaboration across AI supercomputing and research, while publisher BuzzFeed also said it would use OpenAI's technologies to enhance its quizzes and personalize some content for its audiences.