Mainland bourses buoyed by telecom, transport gains

Mainland stock exchanges rose for a fourth straight day on Thursday, backed by strong gains in telecommunications and transportation shares.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index nudged up by 0.50 percent or 15.71 points to 3,173.42 points on Thursday. The Shenzhen Component Index edged up by 0.33 percent or 37.11 points to 11,302.73 points.

The CSI 300 Index of the biggest companies traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen closed up by 0.25 percent or 8.75 points at 3,442.87.

Total turnover on the two bourses was 438.21 billion yuan ($70.19 billion), up from the previous trading day's 412.03 billion yuan.

Shares in telecommunications and transportation firms led the gains on Thursday.

Telecom stocks rose more than 4.5 percent on average, following speculation about possible mergers or acquisitions involving China Unicom and China Telecom. There was also speculation that China Mobile might merge with a provincial telecoms firm.

China Unicom soared by 8.37 percent to 4.92 yuan and Telling Telecom Holding Co jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent to 8.75 yuan.

Railway shares also rose on Thursday, with China CNR Corp and CSR Corp rising by 7.78 percent to 12.89 yuan and by 6.08 percent to 12.21 yuan, respectively.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups, rose by 0.90 percent to 1,788.81 points on Thursday.