Chinese shares manage to edge up on Tues

Chinese shares finished slightly higher on Tuesday after morning losses, with the key stock index up 0.09% on the back of bargain hunting and regional markets rally.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A shares and B shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, edged up 0.09% or 3 to 3,629.62 points after fluctuating between 3,659.21 and 3,521.53 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange moved up 2.51% or 329.04 points to 13,427.29 points, after touching an intraday high of 13,568.50 points.

The combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to RMB 114.11 billion from RMB 129.6 billion of the previous trading day.

Most property developers outperformed in the afternoon session. China Vanke<000002><200002>, the nation's largest developer, gained 6.14% to RMB 24.20. Poly Real Estate Co<600048> jumped by the daily cap of 10% to RMB 29.27.

Spurred by a stronger yuan and lower oil prices, airlines were the biggest winners yesterday. China Southern<600029><1055>, China Eastern Airlines Corp<600115><670>, Shanghai Airlines<600591> and Hainan Airlines<600221><900945> jointly enjoyed a daily cap of 10% to finish at RMB 14.93, RMB 13.30, RMB 10.24 and RMB 9.60 respectively.

Heavy weights performed mixed. The two oil giants PetroChina<601857><857> and Sinopec<600028><386> still failed to stop the dropping trend. PetroChina slumped 4.14% to RMB 19.01 and Sinopec dropped 3.15% to RMB 12.62. On the positive side, China Merchants Bank<600036><3968> gained 3.92% to RMB 29.72. Ping An Insurance<601318><2318>, China's second largest insurer, added 1.03% to RMB 51.08.

As a whole, winners outweighed losers by 613 to 219 in Shanghai and 497 to 169 in Shenzhen.