China shares rise on boost from healthcare, banking stocks

China Mengniu Dairy

21/04/2021 05:47

* SSEC +0.2%, CSI300 +0.3%, HSI -1.6%
    * Ping An Bank hits near 7-week high

    BEIJING/SHANGHAI, April 21 (Reuters) - China shares rose on
Wednesday with healthcare and banking stocks leading the gains,
as investors cheered upbeat quarterly earnings results.
 
** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index  .SSEC  was
up 0.15% at 3,478.06 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index
 .CSI300  was up 0.32%. 
 
** The blue-chip's banking sector sub-index  .CSI000951  was
higher by 1.52%, while the consumer staples sector  .CSI000912 
was up 0.77%, and the healthcare sub-index  .CSI300HC  up 1.67%.
 
** Lenders were cheered by investors after some banks posted
upbeat quarterly results. 
 
** Shenzhen shares in Ping An Bank Co Ltd  000001.SZ  climbed by
5.72% to 22.93 yuan in the morning session, touching their
highest since March 5. 
 
** The bank posted a 18.5% jump in net profit in the
January-March quarter, thanks to the country's economic
recovery.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nP8N2M702C urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2ME02P
 
** The sector's performance also shrugged off overnight comments
from a senior banking regulator, who urged banks to prepare for
a rebound in bad loans, and fully evaluate such risks.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2MD36Y
 
** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong  .HSCE  fell 1.62% to
10,905.97, while the Hang Seng Index  .HSI  was down 1.63% at 
28,661.58. 
 
** The smaller Shenzhen index  .SZSC  was up 0.22%, the start-up
board ChiNext Composite index  .CNT  was higher by 0.42% and
Shanghai's tech-focused STAR50 index  .STAR50  was down 0.07%​.
 
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index
 .MIAPJ0000PUS  was weaker by 1.07% while Japan's Nikkei index
 .N225  was down 2.23%.

 (Reporting by Cheng Leng in Beijing, Luoyan Liu and Andrew
Galbraith in Shanghai; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
 ((cheng.leng@thomsonreuters.com; +8610-5669-2129;))