China's stock markets set a new record on Thursday as capital flowed in with the listing of one of the nation's biggest banks and expectations for appreciation of Chinese assets after the interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index moved up 74.8 points or 1.39 percent from the previous trading day to reach a record 5,470.06 points, with a daily turnover at 144.475 billion yuan (US$19.2 billion).

The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller exchange gained 148.4 points or 0.82 percent to 18,221.74 points on a daily transaction volume at 73.731 billion yuan.

The market was shored up mainly by financial and airlines stocks, observers said.

China Life, the nation's largest life insurer, rose 3.16 percent to 57.84 yuan, and another major insurance company, China Ping An, was up 4.66 percent to 118.24 yuan.

Both Eastern Airlines and Air China rose by the daily 10-percent limit to 21.77 yuan and 27.49 yuan respectively, and Southern Airlines was up 8.74 percent to 28.73 yuan.

More than two trillion yuan frozen for subscriptions for the A share IPO of China Construction Bank (CCB), the country's second largest commercial bank, was freed on Thursday, which brought more capital into the stock market, the observers said.

However, with more listings expected, the general market sentiment was less optimistic than the major indices showed, some observers added. Fears that upcoming listings could draw excess liquidity prompted speculation that the government might take further measures to cool the markets.

China Shenhua, the country's largest coal producer, began on Wednesday to accept bids that will determine the price of shares in its IPO, which could raise 69 billion yuan.

This was followed by the listing of China Oilfield Services, a subsidiary of the nation's offshore oil producer CNOOC, in Shanghai.

(Xinhua News Agency September 21, 2007)