China stocks closed up on Wednesday, helped by a mild afternoon rally, recovering from an earlier slump following bomb attacks in Belgium. Regional shares slipped on Wednesday, but held near 3-1/2-month highs hit earlier this week as investors took comfort from a brightening global economic picture. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.3 percent, to 3,236.09, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.4 percent, to 3,009.96 points.
China stocks were broadly lower at midday on Wednesday. Global equity markets fell on Tuesday while safe-haven gold and government bonds were in demand after attacks on the airport and a rush-hour metro train in Brussels triggered security alerts across western Europe. Chinese shares ended the morning session down in line with American benchmarks, but trading volumes were tepid and indexes flitted between positive and negative territory for much of the morning with no clear direction.
A value above 100 indicates Shanghai shares are pricing at a premium to shares in the same company trading in Hong Kong, and vice versa. The northbound quota for the Hong Kong-Shanghai Stock Connect, currently set at 13 billion yuan, saw net inflows of 0.43 billion yuan. Total trading volume of companies included in the HSI index was 0.5 billion shares.