Chinese shares rebound for second consecutive session

    BEIJING, Dec. 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese share prices rose for a second consecutive session on Thursday, lifted by restored confidence among investors.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, jumped 101.75 points, or 2.06 percent, to finish at 5,043.54. It traded between 4,923.30 and 5,050.79, after closing up 2.18 percent at 4,941.78 on Wednesday.

    The Shanghai index has room to rise in the short term but is expected to meet resistance at 5,100, said Shanghai Shiji Investment Consulting. The investment firm added that gains on Friday could be limited ahead of the weekend.

    The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange climbed 238.40 points, or 1.45 percent, to 16,625.41.

    The Hushen 300 Index, which accounts for 60 percent of the nation's stock market value, added 90.91 points, or 1.84 percent, to 5,037.20.

    Qin Hong, an analyst with Bohai Investment, said the strong rebound on Wednesday had helped to boost buying sentiment.

    Winners led losers by 625 to 142 in Shanghai and 484 to 97 in Shenzhen. The combined turnover of the two bourses rose slightly to 128.65 billion yuan (about 17.6 billion U.S. dollars) from 125.71 billion yuan in the previous session.

    The strong rebound also came despite a small decline in Hong Kong. The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed down 0.05 percent at 27,017.09 following the 0.19 percent fall in the Dow Jones Industrial Average overnight.

    Qin said the worst appeared to be over for banking and property stocks, which previously suffered heavy losses due to lending and mortgage curbs, and these shares had begun to gain ground steadily.

    COFCO Property jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent to 22.50yuan. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank rose 4.50 percent to 49.50 yuan and heavyweight Industrial and Commercial Bank of China edged up 0.13 percent to 7.89 yuan.

    Oil producers and other blue chips were also among the biggest gainers.

    Sinopec, China's largest oil refiner, added 6.82 percent to 23.04 yuan. PetroChina, which accounts for nearly a quarter of the total weight of the benchmark index, rose 3.08 percent to 30.50 yuan.

    China Railway, Asia's largest integrated construction group, jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent to 9.97 yuan.