Chinese shares reach five-year high before falling

The share prices on China's Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges reached a new five-year high during Friday's morning session by exceeding the 1,900-point mark, before dropping to 1883.55 points at the close of trading.

The rally during the morning session was led by banking stocks. with the Pudong Development Bank and China Merchants Bank recording up to 7 percent rises.

China Merchants Bank and Pudong Development Bank closed 4.3 percent and 2.9 percent higher respectively.

The heavyweight Industrial and Commercial Bank of China closed 1.7 percent higher at 3.49 yuan, hitting a new high since it was listed late last month.

Analysts said that the number of shares whose price dropped far exceeded that of the shares whose prices went up. However, the short term fluctuation will not influence the growth potential of the stock markets, they predicted.

Source: Xinhua