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Stocks jump on gov't stimulus plan

By Zhou Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-11-11 10:15

An investor reacts with a smile to the surge in China's stock index yesterday, buyoed by the government's 4 trillion yuan fiscal stimulus plan released on Sunday.[China Daily]

China's major stock index jumped over 7 percent yesterday, boosted by the government's unprecedented 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) fiscal stimulus plan released the day before.

The State Council announced the package on Sunday to increase spending on a wide array of national infrastructure and social welfare projects over the next two years.

"This is the biggest ever stopgap measure in history by the Chinese government," said Frank FX Gong, chief China economist at JPMorgan. "By announcing such a huge fiscal stimulus, China is showing the world that it's really serious about keeping domestic growth strong."

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index surged 7.27 percent, or 127.09 points, to end at 1874.8 in yesterday's trading, with almost 150 stocks up to their daily limits, and only three stocks closing lower. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index was up 6.05 percent to finish at 6127.12.

The combined turnover on the two bourses almost doubled from last Friday's session, reaching 78.233 billion yuan yesterday. And the capitalization rose 7 percent to 12.06 trillion yuan.

Stocks in other Asian markets also rallied on China's stimulus measures. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Stock Average shot up 5.81 percent, or 498.43 points, to 9081.43 yesterday; Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 3.52 percent to 14744.60 points.

Wu Feng, an analyst at TX Investment Consulting Co Ltd, said that the timing of this announcement, prior to the release of October economic data, was pretty good.

"This policy stance may ease investors' jittery sentiments, which are likely to be further dampened by the upcoming figures, and promises them a better real economic outlook in the future" Wu said.

Huang Qing, an economist at Morgan Stanley, said: "This pro-growth policy response will help translate the balance sheet strength of the economy into resilient economic growth."

Large caps spearheaded yesterday's gains. Heavyweight Sinopec climbed 9.35 percent to 7.60 yuan. China Ping An advanced 5.25 percent and Baosteel, China's largest iron and steel firm, rose to its daily limits with 10.04 percent growth.

All banking shares gained yesterday, with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China up 5.84 percent.