Chinese stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday on easing trade tensions with the US and hopes of a domestic stimulus package, amid subdued market activity for the second day as investors remained cautious ahead of the year-end. China's main Shanghai Composite index ended 0.3 percent higher at 2,602.15 points. The blue-chip CSI 300 index also closed up 0.3 percent.
The CSI300 financial sector sub-index closed 0.4 percent higher, while the consumer staples sector sub-index was up 0.8 percent. The real estate sector index climbed 1 percent, making it a bright spot in a day of muted trading.
Investors are increasingly expecting the government to aid the sector as part of a broader stimulus package for the economy, said Zhang Gang, an analyst at Central Securities in Shanghai. "It is not ideal, and the room for stimulating through real estate is getting smaller and smaller as housing prices rise," he said. "But if you can't find a quick and efficient way to power the economy forward, then pushing for growth in infrastructure and real estate sectors is an obvious way out."
In an interview with Reuters, US President Donald Trump said talks were taking place with Beijing by phone and he would not raise tariffs on Chinese imports until he was sure about a deal. The comments came after Chinese and US officials spoke on the phone to hammer out a timetable and roadmap to the bilateral trade negotiations. Earlier this month, the two sides agreed to refrain from adding tariffs for 90 days.
"People still care about (trade war) headlines, such as the news about Huawei," said Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "But we also know that there is still time, things may still change before the deadline." The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 0.2 percent, but the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was nearly flat.
Turnover in Shanghai was low for a second day in a row, ending Wednesday at 89 billion yuan. On Tuesday, the market witnessed its lowest daily turnover since January 2016 on Tuesday, at 85.4 billion yuan. "The market has not done very well this year," said Zhang Qi, a Shanghai-based analyst with Haitong Securities. "Many large institutional investors are not willing to take the risk of losing more towards the end of the year." The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were shares of Jiangsu Sunrain Solar Energy Co Ltd, up 10.1 percent, followed by Aurora Optoelectronics Co Ltd, gaining 9.9 percent and Ningbo Jifeng Auto Parts Co Ltd, up by 7.3 percent. The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Zhejiang Langdi Group Co Ltd down 9.2 percent, followed by Eastern Communications Co Ltd losing 7 percent and GigaDevice Semiconductor Beijing Inc down by 6.6 percent.
Both the Shanghai stock index and the CSI300 have fallen 21.3 percent so far this year.
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