A last-hour surge by some of China’s biggest companies kept the nation’s benchmark stock index in the green following President Xi Jinping’s landmark speech at a twice-a-decade party gathering, Bloomberg reports. The Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.3% higher, despite almost three stocks falling for each that rose. The gauge reached its session high in the final five minutes of trading as the two largest-weighted members – Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and PetroChina Co. – extended gains to more than 2%. Late-afternoon buying in large-cap companies during events of national importance has been a hallmark of suspected government intervention in recent years. The ChiNext index of mostly small-cap technology firms closed 0.5% lower, while the onshore yuan added 0.1% against the US dollar and 10-year bond yields held steady near the highest level since late 2014. China’s securities regulator didn’t immediately respond to a fax seeking comment on whether state funds had been active in the stock market.
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