SHANGHAI: China stocks closed higher on Friday as investors cheered Beijing opening up its financial markets further to foreign investors and talks between U.S. and Chinese trade officials.
China finalised rules on Thursday that would scrap quotas under two major inbound investment schemes, giving qualified foreign institutions unlimited access to Chinese stocks and bonds.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.83 per cent at 2,895.34 and the blue-chip CSI300 index rose about 1 per cent. For the week, SSEC gained 1.2 per cent, while CSI300 was up 1.3 per cent.
Adding to the upbeat mood, top U.S. and Chinese trade representatives discussed their Phase 1 trade deal on Friday, with China saying they agreed to improve the atmosphere for its implementation and the United States saying both sides expected obligations to be met.
The financial sector sub-index gained 0.91 per cent. The consumer staples sector edged 0.4 per cent higher, the real estate index was up 1.33 per cent and the healthcare sub-index gained 0.8 per cent.
Consumer firms led gains in markets, with the CSI300 consumer discretionary index ending up 2.8 per cent after China says sales of durable consumer goods such as automobiles and home appliances rebounded significantly during the May Day holiday.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 1.17 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.873 per cent.
On Friday, foreign investors purchased a net of about 6.6 billion yuan ($ 932.59 million) worth of A-shares via the Stock Connect linking Hong Kong and mainland in the morning.
Around the region, MSCI‘s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 1.07 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 2.56 per cent.
At 07:08 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 7.0768 per U.S. dollar, 0.12 per cent firmer than the previous close of 7.085.
As of 07:09 GMT, China’s A-shares were trading at a premium of 27.06 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
