Stocks rally for second day on back of property sector

A Chinese investor smiles in front of an electronic display showing prices of shares (red for price rising) at a stock brokerage house in Fuyang city, East China's Anhui province, March 2, 2016.[Photo/IC]

Stocks rallied for a second day on Wednesday after the central bank cut the amount of cash that Chinese banks must hold as reserves.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,849.68, up 4.3 percent, while the Shenzhen Component Index climbed 4.8 percent to 9,766.37.

Property developers led the gains, with an industry gauge surging 7.1 percent on Wednesday. The country's second-biggest developer Poly Real Estate Group, Cinda Real Estate Co and Shenzhen Worldunion Properties Consultancy Co jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent.

The rally came as the People's Bank of China (PBOC) lowered mortgage down payment requirements to the lowest level ever last month, while the Ministry of Finance also cut the taxes on home transactions in a bid to boost destocking in the property market.

In the latest move, the PBOC's cut on the reserve requirement ratios for banks is expected to release between 600 billion yuan ($91 billion) and 700 billion yuan of liquidity, according to analysts' estimate.

Brokerages rallied on Wednesday, with Industrial Securities, Huatai Securities and Everbright Securities gaining more than 7 percent. GF Securities surged by the daily limit.

The CSI 300 Index added 4.1 percent to 3,051.33 as of closing.

The upcoming annual legislative and political advisory sessions, also known as the "two sessions", will likely to grab more attention when the National People's Congress will sign off a new five-year economic plan.