Brokerages And Energy Lead Advance On Chinese Indices

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.54 percent or 71.81 points to close at 2,899.13 points today on transaction value of 179.80 billion yuan.

The Shenzhen Component Index increased 3.62 percent or 445.31 points to close at 12,737.80 points today on transaction value of 127.23 billion yuan.

According to the Generation Administration of Customs, China's foreign trade increased 43.9 percent year-on-year to $295.01 billion in January, while the trade surplus fell 53.5 percent year-on-year to $6.45 billion.

Brokerages led today s gainers despite several of the 10 brokerage firms which released their financial reports for January recording month-on-month revenue losses in January due to the weak stock market performance. All the brokerages jumped by above 6 percent. Industrial Securities (601377, 15.03, +10.

03%), Changjiang Securities (000783, 12.30, +10.02%), CITIC Securities (600030, 13.83, +10.02%), Hong Yuan Securities (000562, 18.37, +10.00%), China Merchants Securities (600999, 20.15, +9.99%), GF Securities (000776, 48.88, +9.99%) and Huatai Securities (601688, 15.22, +9.97%) all surged by their daily limits.

Insurers too gained. China Pacific Insurance (Group) (601601, 23.82, +5.31%) and Ping An Insurance (Group) (601318, 52.29, +4.64%) rose by about 5 percent.

Led by Guizhou Panjiang Refined Coal (600395, 32.25, +9.99%), the energy sector outperformed as well. Shanxi Lu'an Environmental Energy Development (601699, 57.41, +9.41%) and Taiyuan Coal Gasification (000968, 25.00, +9.12%) were up by more than 9 percent. Huolinhe Opencut Coal Industry Corporation (002128, 23.87, +4.01%) recorded a 48.9 percent year-on-year increase in 2010 net profit attributable to shareholders to 1.46 billion yuan. Both PetroChina (601857, 11.68, +2.01%) and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (600028, 9.09, +2.25%) climbed by more than 2 percent today.

The majority of the non-ferrous metals stocks finished with gains. Yunnan Tin (000960, 37.43, +9.99%) soared by its daily limit with the price of tin on an uptrend. Tongling Nonferrous Metals Group (000630, 30.01, +7.87%) and Jinduicheng Molybdenum (601958, 23.26, +7.69%) rose by more than 7 percent. Gold stocks, such as Henan Yuguang Gold & Lead (600531, 27.71, +4.13%), Zhongjin Gold (600489, 35.39, +2.76%) and Shandong Gold Mining (600547, 46.43, +2.43%) all gained today.

Tourism stocks lagged behind today s increases. Xi an Tourism (000610, 12.15, -1.22%), Guilin Tourism Corporation (000978, 13.49, -0.37%) and Emei Shan Tourism (000888, 18.33, -0.22%) fell. Meanwhile, China International Travel Service (601888, 29.12, +0.48%) and Beijing Jingxi Tourism Development (000802, 13.20, +0.38%) rose by less than 1 percent.

Agricultural companies did not performed well today. Hunan New Wellful (600975, 10.61, +2.51%) was the largest gainer from the sector today. Henan Huaying Agricultural Development (002321, 25.16, -0.28%) extended its decline from the previous trading session to fall 0.28 percent.