By Xinhua
Beijing : Chinese shares surged sharply in morning trade Monday following a rally on the Wall Street and news of improving weather in the country’s snow-hit regions.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 269.35 points, or 6.23 percent, to close at 4,590.12 points in the morning session. Last Friday, the index lost 1.43 percent to 4,320.77, the lowest closing in six months.
The Shenzhen Component Index ended up 1,063.88 points, or 6.74 percent, to 16,840.75.
Only two losses were registered in the two bourses that saw aggregate turnover shrink to 89.1 billion yuan from the whole-day 140.1 billion yuan on the previous close.
Wall Street rallied last week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining more than 0.7 percent Friday. Microsoft Corp’s bid for Internet provider Yahoo Inc and a possible rescue plan for the troubled bond insurance sector helped relieve investor worries in the sliding US economy. The index gained more than four percent for the week, its biggest increase since March 2003.
The worst snowstorms in five decades that have plagued China’s central, southern and eastern regions added gloom to local markets that had fallen earlier amid lingering concerns over a US recession.
Other Asian stock markets climbed Monday on improved market sentiment after the Wall Street rally. Japanese shares surged 2.48 percent in morning trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, while in Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index rose nearly four percent.