Non-ferrous metal companies listed on China's stock exchanges performed strongly on Monday as the industry is showing signs of a recovery despite economic headwinds.
Shares of all listed non-ferrous metal producers, except those suspended, gained by the trading break at noon, with the sector's sub-index jumping 4.46 percent, leading a 1.77-percent rise in the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index.
The stellar growth could be attributable to continued profit improvement since the beginning of the year.
The non-ferrous metal industry raked in 68.74 billion yuan (around 10 billion U.S. dollars) of profit in the first five months, up 8.6 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). The performance reversed a 15-percent decline for the whole year of 2015.
Industrial output of non-ferrous metal companies with annual turnover surpassing 20 million yuan increased by 9.6 percent. This was the second-fastest growth among 12 major heavy industrial sectors, the MIIT data showed.
Confronted with overcapacity and falling prices, leading producers in the industry have agreed to cut output in the hope of weathering economic hardships.
