Index taps fast gain in industrial profits

Shanghai stocks inched up yesterday after industrial profits in China expanded faster in April.

The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 2,293.08.

Profits at China's industrial enterprises grew 9.3 percent year on year to 437 billion yuan in April, faster than the 5.3-percent gain in March, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.

The bureau said that in the first four months of the year, profits gained 11.4 percent to 1.61 trillion yuan, 0.7 percentage point slower than the growth in the first three months.

Yu Jianxun, an official with the bureau's industry department, said the profit gain was due to the better performance of the energy, automobile and electronic manufacturing sectors.

At a meeting with business leaders in Switzerland on Friday, Premier Li Keqiang said China will deepen financial market reform, develop multi-level capital markets quickly, and promote market-oriented interest rates.

Haitong Securities rose 2 percent to 11.47 yuan (US$1.87). CITIC Securities, China's biggest listed broker, gained 1.4 percent to end at 12.86 yuan. Huatai Securities climbed 4.3 percent to close at 10.35 yuan.

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