Chinese shares rally, growth enterprises lead charge

Chinese equities staged a minor rally on Thursday as the ChiNext Index, which tracks China's Nasdaq-style board of more than 350 growth enterprises, led the charge by jumping 3.1 percent.

A total of 16 growth enterprises, such as E-Lanxun and Yunyi Electric, saw their shares jump by the 10-percent daily limit.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which plunged 1.83 percent on Wednesday, gained 0.6 percent, or 12.57 points, to finish at 2,100.51. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index added 45.54 points, or 0.56 percent, to close at 8,156.54.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 678 to 181 in Shanghai, and by 1,204 to 199 in Shenzhen. Combined turnover was 158.9 billion yuan (25.88 billion U.S. dollars). up from Wednesday's 150.71 billion yuan.

The banking sector was weak and dragged down the indices.

Shares in Industrial Bank fell 2.47 percent to end at 10.64 yuan. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank shed 1.56 percent to 9.49 yuan per share. Bank of Communications lost 1.24 percent to end at 3.98 yuan.

Stocks connected to the concept of the to-be-established "National Security Committee" continued to gain, with nine of them jumping by the 10-percent daily limit.

The nine stocks included Guangzhou Shipyard International, which gained 1.24 yuan per share to end at 13.60 yuan; China Spacesat, which rose 1.49 yuan to 16.35 yuan; and Anhui Sun-Create Electronics, which added 2.24 yuan to close at 24.59 yuan.

The Communist Party of China (CPC) said in a Tuesday communique that the country is to set up a national security committee, but gave no further details.

Ai Tangming, a Beijing-based stock market analyst, said Thursday's rebound indicated that the market has begun error-correcting over Wednesday's plunge.

Ai said the market was disappointed that the "decision on major issues concerning comprehensive and far-reaching reforms," which was approved by a CPC key meeting, has not been released.

The big rally of the ChiNext Index pointed the direction for the market in the coming days, he added.