HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Chinese stocks rose further in Friday morning trade, after China Financial Futures Exchange made a rare series of statements, reassuring investors that markets wouldn’t fluctuate on Friday, the settlement date of three stock index futures. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.8%, adding to Thursday’s 0.5% advance after two days of declines. China Financial Futures Exchange published the statements Thursday, saying that investors might be “overthinking” things by worrying about possible market manipulation on the settlement date of stock-index futures. Days earlier, Chinese police launched an investigation in Shanghai over the suspected manipulation of securities futures and “malicious short-selling activities,” which were blamed for the worsening of China’s stock-market rout in recent weeks. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index also advanced 0.8%, with the mainland-China-tracking Hang Seng China Enterprises Index up 1.2%. State-controlled insurance giant China Life Insurance Co. rose 1.4% in Hong Kong but declined 1.4% on the mainland, after the company said it didn’t violate regulations in its sale of Citic Securities Co. stock at the end of last week, as its stake at the company didn’t exceed 5%. China’s securities regulator unveiled a rule on July 8 forbidding any shareholder with a more-than-5% stake in a listed firm to reduce that stake over the following six months. Citic Securities — shares of which surged 5.2% in Hong Kong — had issued a similar statement Thursday. Other Chinese brokers also recorded susbtantial gains, as Haitong Securities Co. jumped 3.5%, Shenwan Hongyuan H.K. Ltd. climbed 3%, and China Everbright Ltd. advanced 2.6%. Among other market movers, Bank of Communications Co. rose 2.3%, and Bank of China Ltd. added 1.4%.
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