Chinese mainland shares close higher

Chinese mainland stocks closed higher on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.23 percent to 3384.1 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.58 percent higher at 10203.5 points. The combined turnover of these two indexes stood at 1.29 trillion yuan ($180 billion), higher than 1.15 trillion yuan on the previous trading day. Shares related to media, entertainment and electronic information led the gains, while those in the food and bio-medicine sectors were among the biggest losers. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.17 percent to close at 2048.61 points on Thursday.

Yuan strengthens against greenback

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, strengthened 21 pips to 7.1865 against the US dollar on Thursday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System. In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day. The central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.

Xinhua - China Daily