Chinese shares close higher on warm trade data

Chinese shares continued to close higher Wednesday on better-than-expected foreign trade data, marking rises for four consecutive trading days.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.48 percent, or 10.72 points, to end at 2,246.30. The Shenzhen Component Index added 0.58 percent, or 51.94 points, to 9,074.84.

Combined turnover on the two bourses grew to 177.83 billion yuan (28.69 billion U.S. dollars) from 168.30 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Newly released customs data showed that China's foreign trade volume grew by 15.7 percent year on year in April, faster than the 12.1 percent increase in March.

Analysts said the better-than-expected data, as another sign of the recovering Chinese economy, will help strengthen market confidence.

More than 60 percent of stocks rose on Wednesday on the two bourses, led by the media and IT sectors.

The media sector added 4.43 percent. Beijing Enlight Media Co. and Huayi Brothers Media Corp., two major Chinese media and entertainment groups, both went up by their daily cap of 10 percent to 30.66 yuan and 27.94 yuan per share, respectively.

The IT sector also posted substantial gains, with the sub-index for electronic information companies up 2.36 percent and that for electronic components makers up 2.12 percent.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of high-tech companies and those with high growth potential, increased 2.37 percent to close at 980.08.

Bucking the trend, companies in the coal industry dipped 0.6 percent while the financial sector edged down slightly by 0.07 percent.