China stocks run up best month in nearly four years
- The Shanghai Composite Index records best month since April 2015
- Shanghai benchmark has gained an eye-watering 14 per cent since beginning of February
China stocks recorded their best monthly performance in nearly four years in February, driven by hopes for beneficial policies and easing trade tensions, even though shares ended mixed on the last trading day after economic data pointed to weak manufacturing activities.
The Shanghai Composite Index capped an eye-watering gain of 14 per cent, or 356.38 points, over February, its best monthly performance since April 2015. That was back at the height of one of China’s worst stock market bubbles, when the gauge soared 18.5 per cent in a month.
The ChiNext Index of start-ups shot by 25 per cent in February, by far its best month since its inception in 2010.
China’s markets added US$1 trillion in market capitalisation in February.
A dramatic rally at the beginning of this week – the Shanghai benchmark surged by 6 per cent on Monday – accentuated the stunning run-up, given that China was the world’s worst performing major market in 2018. Now it is the best.
Turnover surged to a historically high level above 1 trillion yuan (US$150 billion) on both Monday and Tuesday, and stood at 662 billion yuan on Thursday, which is still nearly two times the average daily turnover in the past three months.