China shares extended their rally on Wednesday to close at the highest in seven weeks, climbing for a nine straight session, led by banking and consumer stocks. China's producer prices rose at their slowest pace in 13 months in December, as the government's war against winter smog dented factory demand for raw materials. The country's consumer inflation accelerated less than expected to 1.8 percent in December from 1.7 percent previously.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 8.24 points or 0.24 percent at 3,422.14. The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.45 percent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.83 percent, the consumer staples sector up 1.28 percent, the real estate index up 0.17 percent and healthcare sub-index down 0.28 percent.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.33 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was down 0.7 percent. Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.41 percent while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.26 percent. The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Changchun Gas Co Ltd up 10 percent, followed by Easysight Supply Chain Management Co Ltd gaining 10 percent and Shanghai Prosolar Resources Development Co Ltd up by 9.98 percent.
The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Kama Co Ltd down 6.97 percent, followed by Tederic Machinery Co Ltd losing 5.47 percent and FangDa Carbon New Material Co Ltd down by 5.08 percent. So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 3.23 percent, the CSI300 is up 4.4 percent this year, while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 4.7 percent.
About 20.91 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 133.9 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 15.61 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 19.15 billion. The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 15.38 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 1.9 percent.
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