Chinese stocks rebound on stimulus hopes

Chinese stocks strongly rebounded for the second straight day on Wednesday as investors piled into property and consumer stocks, betting that Beijing will intensify stimulus measures to cushion the impact of a development in the China-US trade friction.

The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.32 percent to 3,312.48 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.14 percent to 2,730.85 points.

The CSI300 financial sector sub-index was higher by 1.24 percent, the consumer staples sector up 2.14 percent, and the real estate index up 4.61 percent and the healthcare sub-index up 1.63 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 1.41 percent.

The start-up board ChiNext Composite Index was higher by 1.10 percent.

The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite Index were Changchun Sinoenergy Corp, up 10.11 percent, followed by Nanjing Kangni Mechanical & Electrical Co gaining 10.08 percent and Jiangsu Rutong Petro-Machinery Co, up by 10.02 percent.

China will use the continuing trade friction as an opportunity to replace imports, promote localization and accelerate the development of hightech products, the People’s Daily said in a frontpage article on Wednesday.

The administration of US President Donald Trump said on Monday it would begin to slap new tariffs of 10 percent on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from September 24.

And the tariffs will go up to 25 percent by the end of 2018.

China hit back, saying it will levy tariffs on about $60 billion worth of US goods, as previously planned.