China stocks end firmer on robust trade data

China’s stocks ended last week higher as investors’ confidence was underpinned by the country’s better-than-expected trade data that pointed to a robust domestic economy.

For the week, the Shanghai Composite Index closed up 0.55 percent at 3,290.17 points while the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.82 percent.

On Friday, the smaller Shenzhen index ended up 1.24 percent while the start-up board ChiNext index was higher by 0.85 percent.

Boosted by strong domestic and external demand, China’s exports and imports accelerated in November after slowing in October, an encouraging sign for the world’s second-biggest economy, which has recently shown sluggish growth amid an official crackdown on debt risks and factory pollution.

Last week, the market capitalization of the Shanghai stock index fell by 0.97 percent to 28.51 trillion yuan ($4.31 trillion).

The Shanghai stock index is currently below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. The price-to-earnings ratio of the index was 14.68 as of the last full trading day while its dividend yield was 2 percent.

Some 3.03 billion locked shares will become eligible for trading on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from December 11 to December 15, according to information service provider Wind Info.

The unlocked shares are currently estimated to be worth 33.76 billion yuan as the year-end approaches, up from the 28.21 billion yuan value reached in the previous week.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission, the country’s securities regulator, has just approved five IPO applications, the Securities Daily reported on Sunday. The companies are expected to raise up to 3.7 billion yuan in China’s A share market.

Two of those companies will be listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, two on the Shenzhen small- and medium-sized enterprise board and one on the ChiNext index, according to the report.