Shanghai stocks post a strong weekly gain

Chinese mainland stocks ended the past week higher, with investors showing optimistic attitudes toward companies’ strong earnings and economic fundamentals.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.9 percent, marking its best weekly performance in more than four months. Meanwhile, the blue- chip CSI300 index rose 2.1 percent last week.

On Friday, the stocks swung between gains and losses, with Shanghai stocks almost unchanged at 3,268.72 points while the blue chips closed up 0.09 percent to 3,724.68 points.

The daily total turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses amounted to 479.9 billion yuan ($ 71.9 billion), contracting 9 percent from Thursday.

Despite the weak performance Friday, the market is expected to soon gain momentum.

“We’re in the midst of a blue- chip rebound, with relatively low volatility. This is supported by a number of factors including strong data, MSCI inclusion and continued reform,” said Pan Shaochang, an analyst at Dongguan Securities, in a Reuters report.

More than 1,000 firms will release their midyear earnings reports this week. Strong profit rises were forecasted in materials firms for the first half of this year thanks to price hikes in steel and cement as a result of supply- side reform in the country.

China Nuclear Engineering Corp extended its rise on Friday, jumping by the daily limit of 10 percent to lead its weekly gains to 24.5 percent. On Wednesday, the company disclosed that its newly- signed contracts in the first seven months of 2017 grew 17.2 percent year- on- year.

Stocks of technology companies performed poorly overall. Shenzhen’s tech- heavy startup board ChiNext lost 0.63 percent, ending at 1,821.80 points last Friday, after increasing for four consecutive days. Over the past week, the index rose 4.6 percent.

Securities analysts predict that the rally in tech stocks will continue this week, but warn that the ChiNext is under pressure to surpass the 1,840 level.