China stocks rise for fifth day

SHANGHAI, Jan 4 (Reuters): China stocks extended gains on Thursday, up for the fifth session in a row, aided by data showing Chinese services sector activity grew at its best pace in more than three years in December.
China's services sector activity expanded in December on solid growth in new business, with the outlook improving to a six-month high, a private sector survey showed on Thursday.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 17.40 points or 0.52 per cent at 3,386.50. The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.44 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.09 per cent, the consumer staples sector up 2.71 per cent, the real estate index up 1.15 per cent and healthcare sub-index up 0.9 per cent. The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 0.36 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was unchanged.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.30 per cent while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 3.26 per cent.
At 07:01 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.5035 per U.S. dollar, 0.05 per cent weaker than the previous close of 6.5005.
The largest per centage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were China Oilfield Services Ltd up 10.05 per cent, followed by CTS International Logistics Corp Ltd gaining 10.05 per cent and Baotou Huazi Industry Co Ltd up by 10.05 per cent.
The largest per centage losses in the Shanghai index were Jiangsu Protruly Vision Technology Group Co Ltd down 5.05 per cent, followed by BOCO Inter-Telecom Co Ltd losing 5.02 per cent and Wenyi Suntech Co Ltd down by 4.56 per cent.
About 20.70 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 135.2 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 15.30 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 21.38 billion.
As of 07:02 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 27.19 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.