SHANGHAI stocks yesterday gained the most in three weeks after falling for four straight days as concerns about monetary tightening eased after China's inflation slowed in March.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.64 percent, the biggest daily gain since March 20, to close at 2,225.78 points.
China's Consumer Price Index for March climbed 2.1 percent from a year earlier, down from a 10-month high of 3.2 percent in February, the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday.
Food prices rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier in March, a sharp drop from 6 percent in February, the data showed.
"The CPI growth was slower than market expectations of 2.5 percent due to a decline in food prices and the government's campaign to cut public spending, which provided more leeway for the central government to adjust policy according to economic conditions,'' Gaohua Securities said in a report yesterday.
Xiang Songzuo, chief economist of the Agricultural Bank of China, said the lower-than-expected rise in both CPI and the producer price index reflected the weak economic recovery and waning possibility of tighter monetary policy.
SAIC Motor Corp jumped 4.1 percent to 15.34 yuan (US$2.47) after reporting a 17-percent annual rise in car sales in the first quarter this year. Anhui Jianghuai Automobile Co surged 8.4 percent to 6.97 yuan as its sales grew 24 percent in the first quarter.
Ping An Insurance (Group) Co added 2.9 percent to 41.14 yuan after Shanghai Securities News said insurers' premium income in the first quarter this year was better than expected. China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co rose 4.3 percent to 19.33 yuan.