Chinese equities end trading broadly flat
China’s A-share stocks ended Wednesday trading little changed, with automakers and leisure service providers outperforming, while agriculture and national defense sectors suffered the most.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.07 percent, ending the day at 2,923.37 points.
The smaller Shenzhen Component Index was down 0.04 percent at around 11,108.36, and the ChiNext Index dropped 0.10 percent to finish at 2,143.12.
The combined turnover of the two bourses was 777.8 billion yuan (US$109.4 billion), compared with the previous trading day’s 772.1 billion yuan.
The “stall economy”-related stocks performed well amid the launch of favorable government policies, while agriculture and national defense companies underperformed the broader markets.
Zhejiang China Commodities City Group Co Ltd, a company principally engaged in the development and operation of commodity trading platforms, saw its shares jump by the daily maximum of 10 percent to close at 4.6 yuan per share.
China’s Caixin services Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) jumped to 55.0 in May from 44.4 in April, beating the market consensus of 47.3.
The increase was also more significant than the modest rise in the National Bureau of Statistics official services PMI to 52.3 in May from 52.1 in April.
Considering the existing social distancing requirements and the lack of an effective vaccine for COVID-19, the Japanese investment bank Nomura expects the recovery in the services sector, especially for services consumption, to be moderate over the next few months.
