Chinese shares edged up on Tuesday after the country reported a better-than-expected industrial activity, though fears of an economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic led the stock market to its worst quarter since 2018.
The Shanghai Composite index closed 0.1% firmer at 2,750.30 and the blue-chip CSI300 index added 0.3% on hopes that the world's second-largest economy may soon recover from the initial shock caused by the outbreak.
The impact of the fast-spreading coronavirus dragged the Shanghai benchmark 4.5% lower this month and 9.8% in the first quarter, while the CSI300 dropped 6.4% month-on-month and 10% for the quarter. Both benchmarks marked their worst months since last May, and worst quarters since the fourth quarter of 2018.
CSI300's financial sector sub-index fell 0.8%, the consumer staples sector jumped 3.9%, the real estate index dropped 1.3% and the healthcare sub-index gained 1.4%. The smaller Shenzhen index added 0.5% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.6%.
At 0729 GMT, the yuan was 0.11% firmer at 7.0897 per US dollar. So far this year, the Shanghai stock index lost 9.8% and the CSI300 dropped 10%. About 21.86 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange. The volume in the previous trading session was 23.97 billion. The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and 200-day moving average.