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China and Hong Kong stocks extended gains on Thursday, aided by data showing Chinese services sector activity grew at its best pace in more than three years in December. China's services sector activity expanded in December on solid growth in new business, with the outlook improving to a six-month high, a private sector survey showed on Thursday.
At 04:02 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was up 13.79 points or 0.41 per cent at 3,382.90. China's blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.46 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.25 per cent, the consumer staples sector up 2.87 per cent, the real estate index up 0.34 per cent and healthcare sub-index up 0.72 per cent.
Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.87 per cent to 12,194.58, while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.45 per cent at 30,699.74. The smaller Shenzhen index was up 0.17 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.23 per cent.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.12 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index was up 2.55 per cent. The yuan was quoted at 6.5078 per US dollar, 0.11 per cent weaker than the previous close of 6.5005.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Baotou Huazi Industry Co Ltd up 10.05 per cent, followed by Hubei Sanxia New Building Materials Co Ltd gaining 10.01 per cent and SJEC Corp up by 9.99 per cent.
The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Jiangsu Protruly Vision Technology Group Co Ltd down 5.05 per cent, followed by BOCO Inter-Telecom Co Ltd losing 5.02 per cent and Hunan Copote Science Technology Co Ltd down by 4.06 per cent. The top gainers among H-shares were PetroChina Co Ltd up 4 per cent, followed by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp gaining 3.9 per cent and Postal Savings Bank of China Co Ltd up by 2.68 per cent.
The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Air China Ltd which has fallen 2.51 per cent, Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd which has lost 1.8 per cent and China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd down by 0.9 per cent.
About 10.58 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 69.2 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 15.30 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 21.38 billion as of the last full trading day. As of 04:02 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 27.71 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. The Shanghai stock index is above its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average.
The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 15.16 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 1.9 per cent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has risen by 2.03 per cent to 29.49 trillion yuan.
In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares rose 2.7 per cent, while the IT sector rose 1.4 per cent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was Wharf Holdings Ltd up 4.09 per cent, while the biggest loser was China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd which was down 2.78 per cent.
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