China's stock market rose on Wednesday as financial and property shares sagged but the vast majority of other stocks climbed in fairly active turnover. The Shanghai Composite Index, which had ended the morning 0.60 percent lower, closed the day up 0.62 percent at 5,233.351 points.
Gainers overwhelmed losers by 741 to 84, and turnover in Shanghai A shares was 122.4 billion yuan ($16.7 billion), down marginally from Tuesday's 124.7 billion yuan but still one of highest daily totals of the past two months.
Resources, industrial and power generation stocks were strong with Datang Power surging 8.55 percent to a two-month high of 18.79 yuan in its heaviest turnover for nearly three months.
Some traders said the energy sector in general was boosted by a much stronger-than-expected debut in Shenzhen by Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology, China's largest maker of wind power generating equipment. The stock soared 264 percent from its IPO price to close at 131.00 yuan, well above analysts' predictions of a range of 90-100 yuan for its first day.
Financials remained depressed by concern that tightening monetary policy would hurt profit growth next year. The biggest bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, slipped 1.61 percent to 7.95 yuan.
Property shares, hit by signs that the residential real estate market is flagging as well as by monetary tightening, stayed soft. Vanke ended down 0.29 percent at 27.74 yuan. It is down 19 percent from December's peak.
Nevertheless, many analysts said the active turnover and the index's rise back above its early December peak of 5,209.705 points were positive signals for the medium term.
"The index is likely to consolidate around 5,200 points for at least a couple of days - there's resistance around 5,373 points, the 60-day moving average," said Wu Lei, analyst at CITIC-Kington Securities.
But he and others still expect the index to hit 6,000 in the first quarter of 2008, after it apparently confirmed a bottom this month at the late November low of 4,778.727. "If the index can break cleanly above the 5,400-point level, it should target 6,000 points," Wu said.
A poll of 372 institutional investors by Guotai Junan Securities, published in the official Shanghai Securities News on Wednesday, found nearly 90 percent do not expect the A-share market to become a bear market in 2008, while over half think the index will rise past 6,000 points.
Among other big gainers on Wednesday, China Shipping Container Lines, which listed early this month, jumped its 10 percent daily limit to a record high of 11.98 yuan, though traders saw no fresh news behind the leap.
China Pacific Insurance, the country's third-biggest life insurer, gained 3.65 percent to 49.93 yuan after surging 61 percent in its debut on Tuesday. The other two insurance shares stayed weak, however, with China Life dropping 1.52 percent to 57.53 yuan and Ping An sliding 1.98 percent to 105.59 yuan. Some traders said there was selling of those stocks to raise money for investment in China Pacific.
A second new listing on Wednesday, Jiangsu Jiuding New Material, also beat expectations. It rocketed 232 percent from its IPO price to end at 33.80 yuan in Shenzhen, above analysts' forecasts of 26-29 yuan.
Chongqing Changjiang River Water Transport shot up its 5 percent daily limit for the 22nd straight trading day. It has been surging since it said it would become the backdoor listing vehicle for Southwest Securities.
Anxin Trust dropped 0.16 percent to 31.64 yuan on profit-taking. It had soared 21 percent over the past three trading days after saying it would place 1.362 billion A shares to buy CITIC Trust in a deal that will make it majority-owned by the CITIC group.