Mainland stocks post best gains in 2 months

Chinese mainland stocks rallied strongly on Tuesday, led by property and consumer shares.

The blue-chip CSI300 index closed up 2.05 percent at 3,843.49 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.99 percent to 3,128.93 points. Both indexes logged their best daily gains since February 22.

The real estate and consumer sectors rose 3.9 percent and 3.1 percent, respectively, leading an across-the-board rally.

“As the Chinese government has vowed to increase domestic demand and maintain healthy development of the credit, equity, bond, forex and property markets, Chinese investors who expected an economic downturn caused by policy tightening could start to revise up their forecasts,” Gao Ting, head of China Strategy at UBS Securities, said in a report.

Concerns that China’s economic outlook could be clouded by escalating trade tensions between the world’s two economic superpowers lingered over markets.

The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite Index were Bright Real Estate Group Co up 10.08 percent, followed by Hefei Metalforming Intelligent Manufacturing Co gaining 10.03 percent and Guangdong Tianan New Material Co up by 10.02 percent.

The largest percentage losers in the Shanghai index were Asian Star Anchor Chain Co down 7.53 percent, followed by Aluminum Corporation of China losing 4.78 percent and CSSC Science & Technology Co down by 4.76 percent.