China stocks close up strongly after holiday

Shanghai shares surged 2.52 percent on Tuesday after a long holiday weekend, lifted by hopes of further monetary easing by Chinese authorities.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index jumped 97.45 points to 3,961.38 -- its highest close since March 14, 2008 -- on turnover of 746.4 billion yuan ($121.8 billion).
The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, rose 2.10 percent, or 43.69 points, to 2,124.09 on turnover of 639.3 billion yuan.
The Hong Kong stock market was closed on Tuesday.
"Expectations of an interest rate cut or reserve cut rose ahead of the release of economic data starting this week," Central China Securities strategist Zhang Gang told AFP.
China will release inflation figures on Friday followed by other data next week, including gross domestic product for the first quarter.
A weak performance could spur the government to boost the economy, after cutting interest rates twice since November and lowering the reserve ratio requirement for banks in February.
The People's Bank of China, the central bank, also injected 20 billion yuan ($3.23 billion)into the money market on Tuesday, in a move seen aimed at boosting liquidity.
"It’s a bull market and funds keep flowing into the market," Wang Zheng, chief investment officer at Jingxi Investment Management, told Bloomberg News. "The market will continue to rise unless we see signals of a crackdown from regulators."
Financial shares led the gains on Tuesday. In Shanghai, banking giant ICBC rose 2.29 percent to 4.47 yuan while China Merchants Securities jumped 5.95 percent to 34.91 yuan. China Life Insurance gained 3.91 percent to 39.08 yuan.
Oil companies rose on higher prices. Shanghai-listed Sinopec added 3.26 percent to 6.66 yuan and PetroChina gained 3.63 percent to 12.27 yuan.
Shenzhen-listed Cloud Live Tech Group surged by its 10 percent daily limit to 8.40 yuan despite saying it cannot meet a 241 million yuan ($39 million) debt repayment.