China stocks rebound 1.6 pct Friday

Chinese shares continued a strong rebound on Friday after a slight retreat the previous trading day, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.6 percent, or 32.55 points, to end at 2,061.79. The Shenzhen Component Index finished at 8,189.68, up 1.46 percent, or 118.19 points. Investors traded actively on Friday, with combined turnover on the two bourses expanded to 147.6 billion yuan (23.43 billion U.S. dollars), down sharply from 104.5 billion yuan the previous trading day. Gainers outnumbered losers by 936 to 29 on the Shanghai bourse and by 1,485 to 34 on the Shenzhen bourse. Analysts said the rebound is likely to continue as more capital has flowed into the market. The People's Bank of China, the central bank, pumped 11 billion yuan into banks through open market operations this week after seeing actual liquidity drain for four weeks. During Wednesday's trading, the key Shanghai stock index gained 2.87 percent. All sectors gained on Friday, with agricultural shares, coal producers, cement makers and non-ferrous metal shares taking the lead. Shares related to agriculture, forestry, husbandry and fishery jumped 5.27 percent. Hunan Dakang Pasture Farming Co., Ltd and Gansu Dunhuang Seed Co., Ltd. both rose by the daily limit of 10 percent -- to 6.36 yuan and 6.15 yuan, respectively. Non-ferrous metal shares also were strong on Friday, with Inner Mongolia Xinye Mining Co., Ltd up 5.04 percent to 11.04 yuan. Shengda Mining Co., Ltd. jumped 5.74 percent to 17.69 yuan. The real estate sector witnessed smaller gains, however. China Vanke Co., the nation's biggest property developer by market value, slid 0.76 percent to 9.2 yuan.