Most Chinese stocks rose on Monday, boosted by strength in metal producers and hopes for more government measures to aid the industrial sector, although weak financial shares depressed the main index. The Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.24 percent at 1,900.347 points after fluctuating around Friday's close.
It gained 4.62 percent last week, its biggest weekly rise in a month. Gaining Shanghai A shares outnumbered losers by 683 to 211 on Monday. Turnover in Shanghai A shares rose to a moderate 59.3 billion yuan ($8.7 billion) from Friday's 50.0 billion yuan. Jiangxi Copper advanced 6.62 percent to 12.61 yuan after climbing 4.65 percent on Friday, as copper prices on the London Metal Exchange continued to rise.
Many industrials and second-tier stocks were strong. SAIC Motor, the biggest listed car maker, gained 1.37 percent to 5.92 yuan; elsewhere in the auto sector, FAW Car and FAW Xiali jumped about 5 percent. An official source told Reuters that the cabinet would discuss concrete steps this week to support the auto and steel industries. The steps are expected to include tax cuts and incentives to promote industrial consolidation.
But financials were soft, partly because of continued worries about the possibility of more large sales of banks' H shares in Hong Kong, after Bank of America and Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing last week cut their stakes in two top Chinese banks.
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China lost 0.56 percent to 3.56 yuan, while China Life Insurance dropped 2.48 percent to 18.88 yuan. Property developers were also weak with Gemdale dropping 3.23 percent to 7.18 yuan after saying its December property sales fell 9.05 percent from a month earlier in area terms and 10.73 percent in value terms.
"Blue chips are sluggish and the index can't rise much if only metal shares are strong, although trade in some second-tier shares is active. So the index is likely to keep consolidating around 1,900 points before the string of economic data coming out this week," said Cao Xuefeng, analyst at Western Securities.
CHINA EASTERN: China Eastern Airlines edged down 0.89 percent to 4.44 yuan after saying it would report a large loss for 2008 because of slumping traffic and losses on fuel price hedging contracts; it estimated a loss of about 6.2 billion yuan through marking down the value of fuel hedging contracts.
The airline's Hong Kong-listed H shares fell more steeply, by 8.93 percent to HK$1.02, widening what was already one of the biggest valuation gaps between A and H shares. But the dismal performance for 2008 did not come as a surprise to the market, especially after China Eastern said last week that its passenger volume fell 5.4 percent last year, its first drop in at least nine years.
Shanghai Wai Gaoqiao Free Trade Zone Development jumped its 10 percent daily limit for a third straight day, to 10.52 yuan, but Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development edged down 0.99 percent to 16.92 yuan after soaring 29 percent last week.
Walt Disney Co said on Friday that it and Shanghai authorities would submit a proposal for a Shanghai theme park to the Chinese government. Chinese media said last week that the parent groups of Lujiazui Finance and Wai Gaoqiao Free Trade Zone would be involved in building the park, which reportedly could cost $3.6 billion. However, Lujiazui Finance said in a statement on Monday that its board knew of no market-sensitive news that it needed to disclose, and reiterated that it had not taken part in any investment activities related to Walt Disney.
Yinchuan Xinhua Department Store and Beijing Hualian Department Store both surged their 10 percent limits, on what traders said was speculative buying related to the approach of the Chinese New Year holiday period in late January, which was expected to boost consumer spending.