China stocks rebounded on Wednesday in volatile trade, with Shenzhen-listed shares rising sharply amid hopes that regulators would soon open a channel for fresh foreign money to enter the city's bourse. Hong Kong chief executive C.Y. Leung told reporters on Tuesday that preparatory work for a Hong Kong-Shenzhen stock connect was going "smoothly".
The Shenzhen Composite Index leapt 1.7 percent and the city's Chinext, which tracks China's high-growth start-ups, jumped more than 2 percent to a record high. Strength in Shenzhen stocks lifted the mood in the overall market, offsetting losses in financial stocks. Investors worried about economic health also got some comfort from a modestly positive survey about China's service sector.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.7 percent, to 3,530.82, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent, to 3,279.53 points. Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank of China , down 1.5 percent to 3.91 yuan; Agricultural Bank of China, down 0.6 percent to 3.22 yuan and China Petroleum, up 0.8 percent to 6.08 yuan.
In Shenzhen, BOE Technology, up 5.2 percent to 3.26 yuan; TCL Corp, up 7.5 percent to 5.46 yuan and Dongxu Optoelec, up 0.9 percent to 9.24 yuan were among the most actively traded. Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 29.3 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 21.8 billion shares.