China stocks rebound after bank intervention

Chinese stocks sustained their recovery from five days of decline on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closing 4.82 per cent higher, dpa reported.

The index had closed 5.34 per cent higher on Thursday.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 5.32 per cent higher while the ChiNext Index, which tracks tech and other growth companies, added 6.26 per cent.

Late Tuesday, the central bank cut its benchmark, one-year lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.6 per cent, and the benchmark deposit rate by a similar margin to 1.75 per cent.

It also lowered the reserves that banks must hold, for the second time in two months, by 50 basis points to 18 per cent for most big banks effective September 6.

The bank announced the measures after the Shanghai index closed down 7.6 per cent on Tuesday following the nearly 9-per-cent loss on
Monday. The index closed down 1.27 per cent on Wednesday.

It was the bank's fifth interest rate cut since November.

China is struggling to meet its growth target for 2015 of about 7 per cent - itself a slowdown from recent years - amid sluggish investment growth and recent figures showing falling exports and imports.

The country's gross domestic product grew 7.4 per cent in 2014, the weakest annual expansion in 24 years.