China shares ended higher yesterday with investors snapping up brokerage stocks such as CITIC Securities as an upcoming industry meeting sparked hopes the government could take measures to boost the market.

The Shanghai composite index, grouping hard currency B shares for foreigners and yuan-denominated A shares, finished 0.21 percent higher at 1,474.413 points.

The index is still down 4.22 percent since mid-July, hit by various factors including a raft of new stock offers and tightened bank lending after an investigation into alleged questionable loans to embattled tycoon Zhou Zhengyi, brokers said.

"Trading was sluggish despite the rise yesterday, indicating market sentiment was still very weak after the recent fall," said Jinxin Securities analyst Xi Weidong.

"Share prices are likely to move narrowly in the near term, with investors awaiting the outcome from the Beijing meeting."

Analysts said they expected the Shanghai composite index to hover between 1,450 and 1,500 points in the next few days.

Senior brokerage executives will gather in Beijing this week to discuss how to develop the stock market at a seminar sponsored by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which sparked hopes the government could launch some measures to support the market, brokers said.

Index heavyweight CITIC Securities, the first brokerage to float shares in China, was one of yesterday's most active stocks and closed up 3.6 percent at 7.76 yuan (US$0.94).

Hong Yuan Securities, a tiny brokerage that started out as a trust company, climbed 4.45 percent to 8.91 yuan (US$1.1).

China's brokerages have suffered from a prolonged slump in the stock market, which has slashed their earnings over the past two years.

Shenzhen's B-share index rose 0.66 percent to 233.04 points, but Shanghai's fell 1.44 percent to 108.05.

On the foreign exchange market, China's yuan firmed a shade to 8.2772 to the dollar yesterday, close to the stronger side of its tightly managed range.

The yuan kept between 8.2771 and 8.2773 throughout the session after closing at 8.2773 on Friday. The central People's Bank of China enforces a trading range of 8.2760 to 8.2800.

Turnover fell to US$480 million from US$530 million on Friday.

Chinese officials plan to tell US Treasury Secretary John Snow they might reconsider the country's hefty buying of US Treasuries and US agency debt if Washington does not cool its calls for China to revalue the yuan, according to a report last week seen by market sources.

The yuan softened yesterday to 6.9762 against 100 Japanese yen from 6.9668, but strengthened versus the euro to 9.3364 from 9.4118. It weakened versus the Hong Kong dollar to 1.0609 from 1.0608.

(China Daily August 12, 2003)