Stocks rally as developers, healthcare firms steal limelight

China stocks rebounded on Tuesday, aided by robust gains in shares of real estate and healthcare firms, as worries of an imminent trade war eased.

The tech-heavy start-up index, ChiNext, closed at a fiveweek high, recouping most of its lost ground from late January, as the country plans new share issue options in order to bring tech giants home.

China may allow its offshore-listed tech giants to sell a certain form of share on the Chinese mainland, said people with knowledge of the plan, in a move that would pit Shanghai and Shenzhen against Hong Kong in a battle to host the country’s tech giants.

“The prospects of unicorns coming to China may stir enthusiasm toward high-tech stocks,” said Yang Hai, strategist at Kaiyuan Securities.

“It also fits into the government’s desire to improve China’s economic structure. The old economy needs to make way for the new economy.”

At the close, the Shanghai Composite Index was up 1 percent at 3,289.64 points.

Meanwhile, the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 1.2 percent, with its financial sector sub-index gaining 1.62 percent, its consumer staples sector down 0.05 percent, its real estate index rising 4.31 percent and its healthcare sub-index gaining 2.17 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended 1.22 percent higher while the start-up board ChiNext index was firmer by 0.11 percent.

So far this week, the market capitalization of the Shanghai stock index has risen by 0.03 percent to 29.13 trillion yuan ($4.59 trillion).