Beijing - Shares on China's main stock market jumped by more than 7 per cent on Monday after the government announced a major package of measures to stimulate domestic demand and buffer the economy against the effects of the global financial crisis. The key Shanghai Composite Index, which measures shares traded in local and foreign currencies, gained 127.09 points, or 7.27 per cent, to end the day at 1,874.80 points.
The Shenzhen smaller Shenzhen Composite Index also soared by more than 6 per cent as combined turnover in the two markets nearly doubled to 78.636 billion yuan (11.52 billion dollars) from 40.2 billion yuan on Friday.
The government on Sunday said it would spend an estimated 4 trillion yuan (588 billion dollars) on infrastructure projects, reduce some taxes and loosen bank lending requirements.
The package would finance 10 major infrastructure programmes over the next two years, including transportation, rural projects, low- cost housing, environmental projects and post-disaster reconstruction, it said.
Other measures include loosening lending rules for commercial banks and a reform of value-added taxes that would reduce the tax bills of companies by an estimated 120 billion yuan (17.6 billion dollars).
