Chinese share prices rose for the fourth consecutive day on Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gaining 31.77 points to close at 5,393.34, even though other markets in Asia fell.

The Shenzhen Component Index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 18,376.96 points on Monday, up 254.55 points, or 1.40 percent.

The combined turnover of the two bourses rose to 249.23 billion yuan (34.2 billion U.S. dollars), up from 224.48 billion yuan on Friday.

Gains outnumbered losses by 642 to 183 in Shanghai, and by 445 to 209 in Shenzhen.

The Sanyuan Information, a consultancy company in Hangzhou, attributed the growth to the continuing appreciation of the yuan.

The yuan hit a new high on Monday to reach a central parity rate of 7.2695 yuan to the dollar, up 84 basis points from Friday. The exchange rate broke the 7.30 mark last Wednesday.

The appreciation helped drive up real estate shares, said Sanyuan Information. China Vanke, the largest listed real estate developer in China, gained 0.94 yuan, or 3.21 percent, to close at 30.18 yuan per share, and Gemdale, another major developer, rose 5.43 percent to 46.56 yuan.

The nonferrous metal and chemical shares will also be boosted by the rising yuan in the near future, the company said.

Coal shares soared, as sky-high oil prices force investors to look at alternative energy resources. The Shenhuo Group, which owns a major thermal power plant, went up 9.29 percent, and Datong coal rose 5.24 percent.

Banking heavy weights ICBC and Bank of China remained stable, but most commercial banks, such as Shanghai Pudong Development Bank and China Minsheng Banking Corp, gained ground.

Despite the strong performance of A shares on the mainland stock market, markets in other parts of Asia were weak. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 340 points, or 1.28 percent, to 27,179 points and the market in Taiwan slumped 4.1 percent.

The H-shares index, which is composed of 43 companies registered on the Chinese mainland, also dropped 313 points to close at 15,591 points.

Analysts said the drop came as a result of the latest prediction by a Harvard University economist who warned there was a higher probability of an economic recession in the United States.

Martin Feldstein said the chance of a recession had increased to more than 50 percent in the U.S. following a report that showed the country's unemployment rate had jumped to five percent, the highest in two years, last December.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2008)