China stocks hold steady, resources boom

Chinese stocks held steady on Wednesday, bolstered by strong gains in resources shares after upbeat industrial profit data helped to ease worries about slowing economic growth.

Investor confidence was also underpinned by signs of further restructuring in the bloated state sector, and a conviction that Beijing will safeguard market stability ahead of a highly sensitive Communist Party Congress next month, reports Reuters.

The blue-chip CSI300 index ended little changed at 3,821.20 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index was also flat at 3,345.27 points.

Profits at China’s industrial companies rose 24 per cent in August from a year earlier, accelerating from the previous month.

Resources firms, the biggest beneficiary from industry consolidation and state reform, rose sharply, with the CSI300 materials sub-index up 0.8 per cent.

Banking shares dragged, with Jiangsu Changshu Rural Commercial Bank slumping more than 5.0 per cent to a near one-year low.