A-shares post Monday gains after rough week

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) rose 3.65% to 2,073.568 points on Monday after dropping 12.78% the previous week, encouraged by news that the US would inject capital directly into American banks, and European governments would buy debt from banks, Reuters reported. Chinese bank shares were also helped by the fact that they dropped near levels where a state fund had bought small amounts of shares in September as part of a rescue plan for the market. The SCI did not match the performance of stocks elsewhere in Asia Monday, though it had outperformed them last week. Analysts believe that while China’s government wants to keep the SCI above the psychological 2,000-point barrier, the index may once again cross it and approach the 22-month low of 1,802 points reached on September 18 unless world markets have finally bottomed out.