Tourism stocks lead gainers on Chinese markets

December 29 -- The Shanghai Composite Index rose 3.55 points, or 0.16 percent, to close at 2,173.56 points today on transaction value of 36 billion yuan.

The Shenzhen Component Index was up 41.59 points, or 0.48 percent, to close at 8,781.32 points on transaction value of 34.70 billion yuan.

Both bourses opened lower, before the tourism and spirits sectors led the rebound on another day of low trading volumes.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange approved quotas of $950 million for Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFII).

Beijing Sanyuan Foods (600629) and Inner Mongolia Yili industrial Group (600887) raised the prices of some of their dairy products by 1-2 yuan per box, effective January 1, 2012.

A total of 1,264 executives of listed companies were no longer in their jobs as of December 27, up 68.09 percent from the 752 in 2010. Most of the executives were from the ChiNext and SME Board-listed companies.

Shao Qiwei, Head of the National Tourism Administration, said China will draft and implement laws that give workers rights to paid leave.

China will develop more land for tourism purposes and encourage enterprises to develop tourism businesses using their own land.

Bank of China (601988, 2.91, +0.69%) said in a report that real estate prices will continue to fall in 2012, with the trend spreading to more cities.

The report forecasts annual GDP growth of 8.8 percent and CPI growth of 3.5 percent next year. It also predicts another two   reserve ratio reductions in the first half of 2012.

Companies from the tourism sector rebounded sharply in the morning session. Beijing Jingxi Tourism Development (000802, 9.40, +4.329%), China International Travel Service Corporation (601888, 25.85, +2.824%) and China United Travel (600358, 3.82, +2.688%) rose.

Financials traded mixed, with brokerages retreating. Shanxi Securities (002500, 6.44,-4.734%0, AJ Securities (600643, 6.30, -3.817%) and Southwest Securities (600369, 8.32, -3.704%) were the worst performers from this sector.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398, 4.20, +0.239%), Industrial Bank (601166, 12.34, +0.325%) and Bank of Nanjing (601009, 9.10, +0.331%) gained.

Most of the real estate developers fell, with China Vanke (000002, 7.33, -0.136%), Financial Street Holding (000402, 5.97, -0.500%) and Beijing Vantone Real Estate (600246, 3.16, -3.364%) dropping.

Both Sinopec (600028, 7.13 +0.281%) and PetroChina (601857, 9.79, +0.205%) gained.

Spirits makers led gainers today, with Qinghai Huzhu Barley Wine (002646, 17.90, +4.37%), Anhui Gujing Distillery (000596, 83.00, +3.75%) and Jiugui Liquor (000799, 22.88, +3.81%) up more than 3.5 percent.

A number of companies from the automobile sector surged in afternoon trading. Tianjin Faw Xiali Automobile (000927, 6.05, +7.84%), Faw Car (000800, 8.45, +7.92%) and Chengdu Tianxing Meter (000710, 8.72, +5.06%) rose.

Shares of Sunning Universal (000718, 5.39, -10.02%) plunged 10 percent on news that it was under investigation by the CSRC regarding violation of information disclosure requirements.