Chinese shares end nearly 2% higher upon market confidence rally

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, Feb. 9 (Chinese media) -- Chinese equities continued gains on Monday from last week's trading and advanced to a four-month high since late September as signs of an economic recovery, a raft of stimulus plans and a rally in the U.S. stock market boosted confidence, said analysts.

The government rolled out plans to revive the textile industry and machinery manufacturing industry last week after auto and steel stimulus packages. Measures to support the shipping industry, the non-ferrous metal industry and others are yet to come.

These efforts helped buoyed market confidence, said analysts. The country's economy was resilient and posted signs of recovery, partially because of the economic stimulus plans as the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of the manufacturing sector released on Feb.4 rose to 45.3 in January from 41.2 in December.

The Shanghai A-share index rose 43.47 points, or 1.99 percent, to close at 2,224.71, and the Shenzhen Component Index posted a bigger rise of 4.06 percent, or 315.79 points, to 8,087.69.

Combined turnover climbed to a nearly nine-month high at 235.5 billion yuan (34.5 billion U.S. dollars), up from the 189.6 billion yuan from the previous trading day.

Gains outnumber losses by 841 to 29 in Shanghai and 713 to 34 in Shenzhen.

Non-ferrous metal rose across the board boosted by rising metal prices. Shanghai copper surged by its daily limit of 5 percent, or1,400 yuan per tonne to 29,510 yuan per tonne. Shanghai aluminum rose 3.56 percent to 12,225 yuan per tonne. Their gains also lifted other base metals.

Aluminum Corporation of China, the country's largest aluminum producer, advanced by the daily limit of 10 percent to end at 9.56yuan. Yunnan copper, China's third largest smelter of the metal, rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to 13.07 yuan. Liaoning-based Huludao Zinc Industry also gained by the daily limit of 10 percent to 4.16 yuan.

China Cosco Holdings Co. surged by the daily limit of 10 percent to 10.74 yuan after the Baltic Dry Index, a gauge of commodity shipping costs, posted a strong rise of 53 percent over last week. China Shipping Container Lines Company moved up 6.49 percent to 3.34 yuan.