SHANGHAI: China stocks ended higher in the last trading session before the Lunar New Year holiday, with blue-chip stocks scaling an over 13-year high on Wednesday as strong inflation data underscored a recovery in the world’s second-largest economy.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 2.1% to 5,807.72, the highest since Oct. 17, 2007, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 1.4% to 3,655.09.
For the holiday-shortened week, CSI300 climbed 5.9%, while SSEC added 4.5%. The A-share market will be closed from Thursday through Feb. 17, and resume trading on Feb. 18, 2021.
China’s factory gate prices rose in annual terms in January for the first time in a year, as months of strong manufacturing growth pushed raw material costs higher. The producer price index rose 0.3% from a year earlier, the fastest pace of increase since May 2019.
Also helping sentiment, worries eased of an abrupt policy shift amid recent tight liquidity conditions, after the latest lending data.