China shares rebound on the quarter's last trading day

On the last trading day of the quarter, China’s equities markets closed with gains after coming under pressure in recent sessions as investor sentiment seems to have improved. 

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 2.17 percent or 60.52 points to close at 2847.42 after four straight days of losses. Despite Friday's gains, Shanghai shares have been down 13.9 percent for the first half of 2018 and remained in the bear market territory.

The Shenzhen Component Index advanced 3.39 percent to 9379.47 points, while the Nasdaq-style ChiNext enterprise board recorded a two-year high of 4.08 percent of daily rise to finish at 1606.71.

The rebound came after China on late Thursday announced measures to ease foreign investment curbs in industries including banking, automotive, heavy industry and agriculture.

Shares saw broad-based gains today, led by the strong performance of technology names. Winning Health Technology Group Co Ltd, a listed medical and health care information solutions provider, surged by the daily maximum cap of 10 percent to close at 12.39 yuan.

Caixin.com quoted Chen Guo, chief strategist at Essence Securities, as saying that investors’ risk appetite may have dropped to a low point after the recent losses and the market has been gradually digesting some uncertainties.

The market is in the process of searching for the bottom and the dawn for structural adjustment has come, Chen said.