SHANGHAI, June 20 — China stocks closed up today even as banks kept their lending benchmarks unchanged, with real estate developers leading the gains as property sales recovered after supportive measures buoyed demand.
China stood pat on its benchmark lending rates for corporate and household loans, as expected, on Monday, with global central banks’ rate increases making it tough for Beijing to stimulate a weak domestic economy by lowering rates. Nomura said property sales across 30 cities recovered quickly last week, with four top tier cities recording 20 per cent-30 per cent volumes higher than a year ago, and second-tier cities 30 per cent on average.However, energy shares tumbled 5.8 per cent, with coal miners down 6.4 per cent. A fire killed one person at a Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co plant in Shanghai on Saturday, sending the company’s shares down 2.4 per cent.