Dec.25 - After rising for three straight days last week, Chinese share prices maintained strong momentum Monday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 132.48 points, or 2.6 percent, to close at 5234.26.

 

Investors believed the People's Bank of China would not come up with further tightening measures in the near future after the latest rate rise, said analysts with Guoyuan Securities.

 

The central bank raised the benchmark one-year deposit rate by 0.27 percentage points and the lending rate by 0.18 percentage points late last Thursday in a fresh move to curb inflation and cool the sizzling economy.

 

Securities firms, breweries and oil companies led Monday's rise.

 

Anxin Trust & Investment Co. Ltd. rose by the daily limit of 10 percent. Haitong Securities and Citic Securities both surged by more than five percent.

 

Laobaigan Liquor Co. rose by the daily limit. China National Petroleum Co. and Sinopec were up 4.65 percent and 2.94 percent respectively.

 

China Securities Journal reported on Monday that the nation would gradually expand the investment scale of qualified domestic institutional investors (QDII) in 2008, quoting Wei Benhua, deputy director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

 

In fact, institutional investors are now holding shares worth up to some 46 percent of the total market value. They have become a major power in maintaining the stability of the domestic market, said Monday's Securities Daily.

 

Investors are looking to better returns from institutional investors such as fund companies, the newspaper said.

 

The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange climbed 345.25 points, or 2.05 percent, to 17,153.93.

 

The Hushen 300 Index, which accounts for 60 percent of the nation's stock market value, rose 105.28 points, or 2.06 percent, to 5,207.13.

 

Winners led losers by 638 to 116 in Shanghai and 473 to 92 in Shenzhen. The combined turnover of the two bourses rose to 2,062.48 billion yuan (28.1 billion U.S. dollars) from 153.15 billion yuan in the previous session.

 

Following Wall Street's advance on Friday, other Asian markets also saw strong performances on Monday. Indian share prices surged 2.77 percent. Hong Kong stocks rose 1.82 percent.