Chinese shares rebound sharply on Friday

Chinese shares bounced back sharply on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index soaring 135.15 points, or 3.92 percent, ending at 3,584.17 points.

The Component Index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 10,258.64 points, up 401.41 points or 4.07 percent from the previous close.

Only ten out of about 1,500 stocks on the market reported losses. Shares in the coal, petroleum, steel, textile and financial sectors performed well.

Ping An Insurance of China rose 6.46 percent to 55.34 yuan. Sinopec was up 2.78 percent to 11.08 yuan and Baosteel ended on 10.72 yuan, up 3.68 percent.

Chinese shares plunged by more than four percent on Thursday ahead of the release of China's first quarter economic data.

The plunge came as investors locked in profits amid concerns that an over-heated economy might prompt the central government to raise the interest rate. Economists had estimated that the Chinese economy would grow 11.2 percent in the first quarter.

China's economy grew 11.1 percent in the first quarter, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday afternoon.

"The economy is shifting from relatively fast growth to over-heating," said a NBS spokesman, adding that the government was likely to take smaller steps to ensure a stable and fast economic growth.

"As the official figure is more desirable than expected, a lot of investors bought in stocks, hence the comeback of the market," said an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities.

Source: Xinhua