Chinese stocks jump on current progress of Sino-US trade talks

Chinese stock markets saw strong gains on the first trading day of February amid optimism for the ongoing US-China trade talks, although a private survey showed less-than-expected manufacturing data for January.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged by 1.30 percent, or 33.66 points, to finish the day at 2,618.23, led by electronics manufacturers and information technology companies.

That reversed earlier losses recorded in the week, and the A-share market rebounded on the last trading day of the Chinese New Year of the Dog. 

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index rallied by 2.74 percent to close its trading day at around 7,684.00 points, while the Nasdaq-style ChiNext enterprise board climbed by 3.52 percent to end at 1,271.27 points.

Zhejiang Dahua Technology Co Ltd, a world-leading video-centric smart Internet of Things (IoT) solution and service provider, saw its shares rise by the daily limit of 10 percent to end at 13.6 yuan (US$2.02) per share.

The broad-based rally came after news that the latest round of China-US trade talks has made important progress for the current stage, and the two sides had “candid, specific and constructive discussions” in Washington on Thursday, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported.

Led by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the two-day talks started on Wednesday morning and featured dozens of senior officials from both governments.

However, a private survey released on Friday showed that China's manufacturing activity contracted in January.

The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at 48.3 for the past month, down from the reading of 49.7 in December. The figure was also lower than official PMI data from the National Bureau of Statistics a day earlier, which stood at 49.5.

Data shows that the Shanghai Composite Index saw an accumulative decline of 18.16 percent during the past Chinese Lunar New Year.