SHANGHAI, Aug 14- China stocks added to early gains on Monday to end higher, as investors sought opportunities in shares hit by losses last week even as economic data suggested the potential for slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy. In previous sessions,…
SHANGHAI, Aug 14 (Reuters) – China stocks added to early gains on Monday to end higher, as investors sought opportunities in shares hit by losses last week even as economic data suggested the potential for slowing growth in the world’s second-largest economy.
The blue-chip CSI300 index rose 1.3 percent, to 3,694.68, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.9 percent to 3,237.36 points.
Gains were led by high-tech, consumer and healthcare firms that had been hit by losses last week.
“The market has been in a rising period led by cyclical shares. In previous sessions, the enterprise board fell relatively steeply, so the opportunity for a rebound is very clear, ” said Huang Xiaobin, an analyst at Huaitai Securities in Shenzhen.
Investors appeared unperturbed by data on Monday showing that China’s factory output slowed more than expected in July, while investment and retail sales also disappointed. The data may reinforce views that China’s economy is losing steam as lending costs rise and the property market cools.
But economists do not expect any hard landing, with the government keen to ensure stability ahead of a once-in-five-years Communist Party leadership reshuffle in the autumn.
Display company BOE Technology Group Co Ltd gained 3.0 percent, and was the most traded component of the CSI300 index by volume.
Voice recognition software maker iFlytek Co Ltd gained the daily limit of 10 percent. The company said last week that its first-half profits rose 58.1 percent.
“As the company deepens the development of its technologies into products, it will enable greater achievements and realise a change from growth to economies of scale, ” Soutwest Securities analysts Xiong Li and Chang Xiaoya wrote about iFlytek in a note.
The tech-heavy ChiNext board gained 2.9 percent.
Alcohol makers also rose. Kweichow Moutai regained ground lost on Friday to rise 3.3 percent to a record-high close of 499.83 yuan.
China CSI300 stock index futures for August rose 1.1 percent, to 3,681.4,12.69 points below the current value of the underlying index.
(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
