Chinese share prices extended the previous session's rebound on Wednesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.87 percent.

Analysts said property developers and banks led the advance due to the the recent rapid appreciation of Chinese currency, the yuan, and the optimistic earnings forecasts of the banking sector.

The key index, which covers both A and B shares listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, climbed 33.87 points to finish at 3930.06 points. It traded between 3,861.91 points and 3,971.61 points.

The Shanghai index, climbed 1.94 percent to finish at 3,896.19 on Tuesday, ending the decline of two consecutive trading sessions.

The Shenzhen Component Index on China's smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange rose 0.64 percent, or 81.53 points, to 12,841.51 points.

The Hushen 300 Index reflecting the performance of China's two stock exchanges closed at 3,807.57 points, up 0.47 percent, or 17.92 points, from the previous close.

The combined turnover on the two bourses rose to more than 120 billion yuan (US$ 15.9 billion), much higher than 95.97 billion yuan on Tuesday, but still sharply lower than the average daily level of 200 billion yuan in May.

Wednesday's volatility indicated sustained investor caution due to the uncertainty of further economic cooling measures after the release of the widely predicted overheating in first-half economic data on Thursday, according to Beijing Shoufang Investment Consulting.

Mild economic cooling measures, including a hike in interest rates by 27 basis points and interest rate tax reduction, would have a limited impact on the markets, Shenyin and Wanguo Securities said. It added the share prices would likely regain growth momentum if the government settled for mild macro-control measures.

All banks rose except China Merchants Bank amid bright profits prospects and ahead of the debut of the Bank of Nanjing and Bank of Ningbo on Thursday.

Shenzhen Development Bank led the banks in stock price rises. It gained 3.74 percent to 30.24 yuan on Wednesday after it forecast first-half net income growth of up to 145 percent over the same period last year on Tuesday.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China edged up 0.19 percent to 5.41 yuan and the Bank of China gained 0.58 percent to 5.16 yuan.

China Life, China's largest life insurer, rose 4.73 percent to 49.20 yuan and Ping An Insurance slid 0.33 percent to 81.70 yuan. The government has recently raised their investment cap in domestic stock markets from five to ten percent of their assets.

Around two thirds of real estate firms rose. China Vanke, the nation's largest listed property developer, jumped 3.76 percent to 23.47 yuan.

Air carriers also reported big gains. China Southern Airlines jumped by the daily 10-percent limit to 9.85 yuan.

Nonferrous metal producers were the day's heavy losers after the government announced it would sharply raise resources taxes on lead, zinc, copper and tungsten ore from August 1.

Yunnan Chihong Zinc and Germanium was down 3.3 percent to 64.97 yuan and Jiangxi Copper slumped 2.43 percent to 24.05 yuan.

Chen Jinren, an analyst at Huatai Securities, forecast continued corrections in stocks of the nonferrous metals sector in the short term.

The A share index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange rose 0.88 percent to 4,123.32 points and the B share index edged up 0.01 percent to 274.53 points.

The A share index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange climbed 0.64 percent to 13,531.99 points and the B share index slid 0.54 percent to 5,760.72 points.

(Xinhua News Agency July 19 2007)