Investors are seen at a trading hall of a securities firm in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 5, 2015. Chinese shares closed sharply higher on Monday, the first trading day of New Year. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,350,52 points, up 3.58 percent. The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 11,520.59 points, up 4.59 percent. (Xinhua/Pei Xin)
BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares closed at the highest level in five and a half years on Monday, the first trading day of 2015.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,350,52 points, up 3.58 percent.
The Shenzhen Component Index also marched to a 40-month high by closing at 11,520.59 points, up 4.59 percent.
Gainers outnumbered losers by 727 to 178 in Shanghai, and by 870 to 537 in Shenzhen. Combined turnover of the two bourses stood at 847.64 billion yuan (138.39 billion U.S. dollars), up from 655.13 billion yuan on the previous trading day of Dec. 31.
The market extended a strong rally that saw the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gain 53 percent in 2014.
On Monday's trading, coal, nonferrous metals, railways, oil and the property sector led gains.
Heavyweight stocks including PetroChina and Sinopec both jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent.
Property stocks rose across the board on expectations that a sales recovery in the fourth quarter will continue in 2015, reversing a downturn that hit the real estate market in 2014.
China Vanke, the nation's largest property developer rose 7.3 percent to 14.91 yuan per share; Poly Real Estate, the second largest, rose 10 percent to 11.9 yuan.
China CNR Corp. Ltd. and the CSR Corp. Ltd., China's top two train makers, both rose by the daily limit of 10 percent after the two announced their merger plan on Dec. 30.
Liang Hong, chief economist of China International Capital Corp. (CICC), predicted the Chinese stock market will continue on an upbeat track in 2015 as China's multiple reform measures are further carried out this year, which will potentially improve efficiency and bring prospective growth and profits.
