China's markets end mixed, but Xi's pledge boosts tech
China’s stock markets ended mixed on Monday.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell slightly, while the Nasdaq-style ChiNext enterprise board ended up after a volatile day, boosted by President Xi Jinping’s announcement of a new board for technology innovation.
The A-share market opened lower, with the three major indexes turning in varying performances during the morning session.
Dragged by heavily weighted liquor and banking stocks among others, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.41 percent or 11.05 points, to finish at 2,665.43 and the smaller Shenzhen Component Index dropped 0.36 percent to end at 7,839.08 points.
Shares of Zhangjiang Inno Park, a Shanghai-listed high-tech development company, surged by the daily limit of 10 percent to close at 10.79 yuan (US$1.56).
The ChiNext was volatile — up about 2 percent before diving in the morning session and closing up 0.04 percent at 1348.88 points.
This follows Xi’s pledge at the opening ceremony of the China International Import Expo that the country will set up a science and technology innovation board with a pilot registration system on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The move, aimed at helping build Shanghai into an international financial center and also a science and technology center, has been applauded by many institutional investors and market-watchers as “a good thing” for the A-share market.
They say it will help the market to return to rationality in the long run and help cool speculation.
Zhu Haibin, chief analyst at Essence Securities, said that this new policy will deliver benefits to innovation-oriented high-quality enterprises and shows China’s strong determination to develop new economies and strategic economic transformation.
