Chinese shares reverse fall

Chinese stocks on Monday reversed last week's fall with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closing at 3,445.41 points -- a 0.26 percent increase -- while the smaller Shenzhen index gained 0.64 percent to close at 12,037.86 points.

The markets performed well on Monday, especially newly-listed and banking stocks, as a rally reversed a large fall on Friday, the last trading day of last week.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, climbed 0.87 percent to close at 2,672.58 points, Xinhua reported.

Total turnover on the two bourses stood at $153.9 billion, compared with 1.14 trillion yuan the previous trading day.

The two bourses fluctuated and were in negative territory in the morning but managed to close higher in the afternoon, with more than 150 stocks up by the 10 percent daily limit.

On Friday, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index nose-dived more than three percent to open at less than 3,400 points in the afternoon session.

Shares of banks led the gains, with Bank of China Ltd. surging 4.05 percent and Bank of Communications Co. Ltd. increasing 2.73 percent.

Newly-listed stocks had a impressive performance with 11 shares rising by the daily limit, including Harbin Zhongfei New Technology Co. Ltd. and Guangdong Guanhua Sci-tech Co. Ltd.

The market was also encouraged by China's resumption of initial public offerings (IPO) on Monday.

Hubei Kailong Chemical Group Co. Ltd. was the first of 10 companies to offer shares to investors following a four-month freeze.

In contrast, stocks related to railway infrastructure retreated, with China High Speed Railway Technology Co. Ltd dipping 3.36 percent to 11.8 yuan per share.