Shanghai stocks see significant rebound

The Shanghai stock market rebounded from its worst week in more than a decade to post an 8.1% gain on Monday, closing at 4,672.17 points, the Wall Street Journal reported. The harsh winter weather saw shares slump to their worst performance since May 1997 as transportation networks were brought to a halt, disrupting food and fuel supplies. However, market watchers believe people are now looking beyond the storms thanks in part to government efforts to boost investor morale. Beijing has temporarily eased curbs on bank lending and approved two new mutual funds while the state media has been packed with statements by top economic officials downplaying the impact of the weather. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ended the day up 3.8% at 25,032.08. One of the big winners was Alibaba.com, which gained 13.6%. This was put down to Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo, which has a 40% stake in Alibaba.