Chinese share prices ended a three-day slide Tuesday on two strong debuts in the Shenzhen bourse.

 

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, climbed 23.88 points, or 0.45 percent, to 5,293.70.

 

The smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Tuesday received two new comers -- China's oldest Peking duck restaurant chain Quanjude (Group) Co., Ltd. and Huatian Technology Co., Ltd. -- both more than doubled by the closing time as initial public offerings are exempted from the daily rise limit of 10 percent.

 

Led by the strong debuts, the Shenzhen Component Index on the Shenzhen bourse rose 326.81 points, or 1.96 percent, to 16,987.48.

 

Steel companies enjoyed the biggest rise on Tuesday with Tangshan Steel up by 10 percent.

 

China Railway Engineering Corp. began its institutional subscription on Tuesday with prices ranging from 4.0 to 4.8 yuan per share. Retail subscriptions for a Shanghai offering of 4.675 billion shares are scheduled to kick off on Wednesday.

 

Analysts said the imminent share sale would worth 22.4 billion yuan calculated on the upper limit of its offering prices.

 

China Shipping Container Lines Co. Ltd., the country's biggest shipping container company, will submit its application for a Shanghai offering of 2.34 billion shares to China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Friday.

 

Banks rebounded despite the central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said there was "considerable room" for more reserve ratio rises. China Minsheng Banking Corporation surged 3.34 percent to 16.42 yuan. Huaxia Bank went up 2.21 percent to 18.46 yuan.

 

PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, dipped by 1.65 percent to 37.44 yuan on the second day of its entry into the Shanghai Composite Index list amid concerns that its shares were still overvalued.

 

China Eastern Airlines Corp rose 1.08 percent to 14.0 yuan after it entered into an agreement to sell its 98.79 percent stake in China Eastern Air Investment for about 461.9 million yuan.

 

The Hushen 300 Index, accounting for 60 percent of the nation's stock market value, was up 74.97 points, or 1.50 percent, to 5,069.38

 

Speaking at the National University of Singapore on Monday, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao said the government would use economic and legal measures to maintain the openness and transparency of China's stock market.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2007)