China’s Stock Futures Rise Before Release of Manufacturing Data

China’s stock-index futures rose, signaling benchmark indexes will extend their biggest one-day gain in two months, before the release of a preliminary manufacturing report.

Futures on the CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) expiring in April added 0.5 percent to 2,621 as of 9:18 a.m. local time. Qingdao Haier Co. (600690), China’s biggest refrigerator maker, may be active after profit increased 22 percent last year. Solar companies may move after Suntech Power Holdings Co. said it wouldn’t resist a bankruptcy petition filed in China. HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics are due to release their factory output gauge at 9:45 a.m.

The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) climbed 2.7 percent to 2,317.38 yesterday, the most since Jan. 14. The CSI 300 Index rose 3.4 percent to 2,610.17. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI) gained 2.2 percent in Hong Kong. The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index (CH55BN) added 2.2 percent in New York.

Shares climbed yesterday as Market Studies LLC’s Tom DeMark said Shanghai’s equity index will resume a rally to gain as much as 28 percent by September. The Shanghai gauge is valued at 9.5 times projected 12-month earnings, compared with the seven-year average of 15.8, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

HSBC and Markit Economics’s preliminary gauge may rise to 50.8 from 50.4 in February, according to the median estimate of 11 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. A reading above 50 indicates expansion.

Growth in consumer prices may ease to 2.5 percent in March from a year earlier as production costs are likely to fall, the China Securities Journal reported today, citing Liu Yuhui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Inflation accelerated to 3.2 percent last month.

(Source: Bloomberg)