HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Chinese stocks headed toward a third day of gains Monday, adding to a previous weekly rally of 5.2% for Shanghai shares, as markets seemed to regain footing amid Beijing’s fresh measures to stem the recent market rout. The Shanghai Composite Index rose by as much as 2.1% in the first few minutes of the session, then turned briefly down by 0.5%, before rebounding to a gain of 0.8%. The Chinese government recently unveiled a flurry of major moves to curb the stock sell-off, including requesting all listed Chinese companies boost their stock price by share-buybacks, stock-incentive plans, employee stock-ownership plans, and other options. Meanwhile, China’s police department has reportedly discovered evidence of “suspected malicious short-selling,” with a special team having arrived in Shanghai at the end of last week to carry out the investigation, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 0.4%, while the mainland-China-tracking Hang Seng China Enterprises Index bounced between small gains and losses. Major Chinese banks and insurers posted broad gains, as China Citic Bank Corp. climbed 1.9%, and Bank of China Ltd. advanced 1.4%, while China Pacific Insurance Group Co. gained 2.2%, and PICC Property & Calsualty Co. rose 1.3%. However, several top-weighted stocks on the benchmark index were weaker, as China Mobile Ltd. declined 1.7%, HSBC Holdings PLC fell 1%, and Tencent Holdings Ltd. dropped 0.3%. Bourse operator Hong Kong Exchange & Clearing Ltd. pulled back by 1.6% after rebounding from recent losses in the previous two sessions. The stock moves also came as China released its June trade data, showing a 2.1% gain for exports in yuan terms against a 6.7% drop for imports.
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