Economic Observer Online
April 18, 2012
By Peng You (彭友)
Translated by Pang Lei
Original article: [Chinese]

The indexes that track stock prices on China's two main domestic bourses spiked yesterday morning at about 11am after Reuters reported that the Korean Central Bank planned to spend a further $300 million in the market before the end of July.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 45.86 points, or 1.96 percent and the Shenzhen Component Index rose 229.61 points, or 2.33 percent, its biggest one-day percentage rise in more than two months.

Both markets opened higher, but after 11am stocks rose sharply, with analysts saying the rise was driven by institutional investors buying stocks in PetroChina, ICBC and other large-cap stocks.

Market sentiment was also impacted by the release of an IMF report into the state of the global economy, which included an upgrade in the outlook for both Chinese and global growth over the coming two years.

Comments from the spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce about the outlook for growth in foreign trade are also likely to have contributed to the rise in stock prices.

Shen Danyang, the spokesman for the ministry, said that he was confident of achieving the targeted 10 percent rate of growth in international trade in 2012 and that he thought that second quarter would prove stronger than the first quarter.