April 21, 2021 - 11:51 AM
By Reuters Staff
* SSEC +0.2%, CSI300 +0.3%, HSI -1.6%
* Ping An Bank hits near 7-week high
BEIJING/SHANGHAI(Reuters) - China shares rose on Wednesday with healthcare and banking stocks leading the gains, as investors cheered upbeat quarterly earnings results.
At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.15% at 3,478.06 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.32%.
The blue-chip's banking sector sub-index was higher by 1.52%, while the consumer staples sector was up 0.77%, and the healthcare sub-index up 1.67%.
Lenders were cheered by investors after some banks posted upbeat quarterly results.
Shenzhen shares in Ping An Bank Co Ltd climbed by 5.72% to 22.93 yuan in the morning session, touching their highest since March 5.
The bank posted a 18.5% jump in net profit in the January-March quarter, thanks to the country's economic recovery.
The sector's performance also shrugged off overnight comments from a senior banking regulator, who urged banks to prepare for a rebound in bad loans, and fully evaluate such risks.
Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong fell 1.62% to 10,905.97, while the Hang Seng Index was down 1.63% at 28,661.58.
The smaller Shenzhen index was up 0.22%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.42% and Shanghai's tech-focused

STAR

50 index was down 0.07%.
Around the region, MSCI 's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 1.07% while Japan's Nikkei index was down 2.23%. (Reporting by Cheng Leng in Beijing, Luoyan Liu and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

Sumber : Reuters