Chinese shares up 2.14% on confidence booming

Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

BEIJING, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares rose
2.14 percent Monday, after the country's Premier said the stimulus package plan
has shown positive results on Saturday.

"China's economic stimulus package plan is already paying off, and positive changes have taken place in the economy," Premier Wen Jiabao said Saturday at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference 2009.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao gives a keynote speech at the opening plenary of Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2009 in Boao, a scenic town in south China¡¯s Hainan Province, April 18, 2009. The BFA Annual Conference 2009 opened here on Saturday with the theme of ¡°Asia: Managing Beyond Crisis¡±. (Xinhua/Ma Zhancheng)
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The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 53.52
points or 2.14 percent to finished at 2,557.46 points. The Shenzhen Component
Index added 2.23 percent, or 213.58 points, to close at 9,793.64.

Gains outnumbered losses by 731 to 61 in Shanghai and
625 to 54 in Shenzhen.

Combined turnover was 222 billion yuan (32.5 billion
U.S. dollars), compared with the previous trading day's 241.24 billion yuan.

Premier: China's stimulus package plan
paying off

BOAO, Hainan, April 18 (Xinhua) -- China's economic
stimulus package plan is already paying off, and positive changes have taken
place in the economy, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Saturday.

"The situation is better than expected," Wen said at the
opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference 2009. Full story

China creates 2.68 mln jobs for urban
people in 1st quarter

BOAO, Hainan, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Figures of the first
quarter of this year show that 2.68 million jobs were created in China's urban
areas, Premier Wen Jiabao said Saturday.

Wen said at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for
Asia annual conference 2009 that per capita urban disposable income grew 11.2
percent and per capita rural cash income rose 8.6 percent year on year in real
terms. Full story

Official: China centrally administered enterprises saw recovery in
March

BOAO, Hainan, April 19 (Xinhua) -- China's
centrally-administered state-owned enterprises (SOEs) reported a rebound in
performance in March with a 26 percent growth in profits from a year ago, said
an official with China's state asset watchdog Sunday. Full story

The March figure was compared with a 33.3 percent
year-on-year drop in profits during the first two months.