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Stocks rise to 3-week high

(chinadaily.com.cn/Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2007-03-20 17:14

Chinese stocks rose to a three-week high today, led byJiangxiCopper Co, which jumped by the daily trading limit after it announced plans to buy assets from its parent and copper futures inShanghairose to the highest in three months.

China Vanke Co gained after the property developer said net income rose 68 percent last year.

Graphical chart of Composite Index on theShanghai Stock Exchange. [stockstar.com]

"The plays of good corporate earnings and buying good-quality assets from parents are what investors prefer now," Bloomberg News said, citing Yan Ji, an investment manger at HSBC Jintrust Fund Management Co n Shanghai, which manages about US$17 million.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks the bigger of domestic stock exchanges, added 0.59 percent to 3,032.20. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which covers the smaller one, climbed 1.3 percent to 794.91.

Jiangxi Copper, China's largest listed producer of the metal, surged 1.64 yuan (21 US cents), or the 10 percent daily limit, to 18.03 yuan as it resumed trading today.

Related readings:  Chinese shares end higher  Market shrugs off rate hike  Financial futures needed  Shanghai Composite Index closes at 3,014.44 points

The company plans to raise as much as four billion yuan selling yuan-denominated shares to buy assets and fund expansion. The copper producer will issue no more than 290 million shares, equal to 9.1 percent of enlarged share capital, it said in a statement today.

Copper futures in Shanghai rose to the highest in three months, as falling stockpiles signaled improved demand for the industrial metal, especially from China, the world's largest consumer. The contract rose as much as 1.3 percent to 61,460 yuan a ton today, the highest since December 21.

AnhuiTongdu Copper Stock Co, China's second-biggest copper producer by output, rose 0.39 yuan, or 3.9 percent, to 10.51 yuan.YunnanCopper Industry Co, the third largest, advanced 1.03 yuan, or six percent, to 18.30 yuan.

China Vanke, the nation's biggest property developer, gained 0.19 yuan, or 1.2 percent, to 16.75 yuan. The developer said profit for 2006 increased 68 percent from a year earlier to 2.3 billion yuan on a surge in home sales.