Food and drink sector boosts share prices

China stocks climbed on Tuesday, led by the food and drink industry.

At close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index picked up 0.71 percent to 3,227.96 points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index advanced 1.31 percent to 13,147.35 points.

The bluechip CSI300 Index increased 0.88 percent to 4,568.26 points and the ChiNext Composite Index startup board advanced 1.32 percent to 2,666.52 points.

The new STAR 50 Index, which tracks the 50 biggest and most representative companies listed on the STAR Market, was up 0.72 percent.

Turnover on the two major bourses shrank to 897.4 billion yuan (US$128.07 billion) from 927.2 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Most sector gained with gainers outnumbering losers by 1,228 to 412 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,649 to 558 in Shenzhen.

Leading the gains, the food and drink sector advanced 3.97 percent on average. New Hope Dairy Co Ltd, Qianhe Condiment and Food Co Ltd and Lanzhou Zhuangyuan Pasture CO Ltd all hit the daily limit of 10 percent.

Precious metals suffered the biggest loss of the day with share prices in the sector tumbling 2.83 percent on average.

International gold price reached a record high on Monday, exceeding the highest price of US$1,921.15 per ounce recorded in 2011. But the upward momentum did not last, with prices slumping across the world.

Analysts said the attraction of gold as a safe haven increases as uncertainties brought by the pandemic and geopolitics remain.

But Shanghai Gold Exchange warned of risks and called on investors to invest rationally.

In an announcement on Tuesday it said that “affected by international factors, market risk is growing in intensity as gold and silver prices fluctuate greatly recently. The exchange will take necessary measures to curb the risk if it exacerbates further.”