Chinese shares rebound on strong property

Chinese shares reversed early losses Thursday as recent underperformers such as property developers and financial institutions rebounded.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.59 percent, or 11.83 points, to end at 2,006.1, while the Shenzhen Component Index was up 1.3 percent, or 100.38 points, to 7,804.11.

Total turnover on the two bourses grew to 189.79 billion yuan (30.71 billion U.S. dollars) from 178.49 billion yuan the previous trading day.

The property sector rallied following the release of semiannual reports which showed that sales of large companies grew considerably in the first half of the year.

Gemdale Corporation rose 4.81 percent to 6.97 yuan per share. Poly Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. gained 2.9 percent to 9.94 yuan.

The financial sector also picked up.

Haitong Securities gained 2.37 percent to 9.51 yuan per share. Bank of Communications climbed 1.75 percent to end at 4.07 yuan per share.

The non-ferrous metals and coal sectors were also among the biggest gainers, with their sub-indices up 3.82 percent and 2.82 percent respectively.

Bucking the trend, the ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, closed down 1.51 percent to reach 1,087.9 points, after making a new high for the year on Wednesday.