China's stock markets Monday maintained the momentum it gained last Friday on major government market boosts.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, opened up 166.63 points, or 8.03 percent, at 2,241.72, and then corrected a bit to conclude the morning session at 2,207.48, up 132.39 points, or 6.38 percent. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index ended at 7,415.14, up 261.14 points, or 3.65 percent.
The combined transaction volume on the two bourses amounted to 116.503 billion yuan (17.08 billion U.S. dollars) for the Monday morning session, compared with the 65.6 billion yuan for the whole Friday.
Observers said this showed market sentiment continued to recover.
They attributed the strong market performance to new stimulus measures the securities regulator ushered in over the weekend to stabilize the stock markets, and to Premier Wen Jiabao's pledge on Saturday to maintain the stability of the stock markets and the financial regime at large.
Bank shares, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, China Construction Bank and CITIC Bank, rose to the 10-percent daily limit several minutes after the opening.
Last Thursday, the government's investment arm -- Central Huijin Investment Co., Ltd. -- said it would buy shares of three major Chinese lenders on the secondary market to fortify their share prices.
The three lenders, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank, had shed heavy losses in the previous three days of trading, as banks were hit most by the spreading crisis on the Wall Street.
On Monday morning, most losses were in the steel sector, as many believed continuous price plunges for steel products at domestic market would drive down the industry.
Pangang Steel&Vanadium declined 5.24 percent to 8.32 yuan, and Greatwall Holding went down 4.95 percent to 5.76 yuan.
Gains outnumbered losses by 829 to 47 in Shanghai and by 668 to 62 in Shenzhen.