China stocks rose on Tuesday, with brokerages leading blue chips higher as analysts expect the sector to benefit from a stronger-than expected stock market performance this year.
At the lunch break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 13.43 points or 0.4 per cent at 3,405.83, reports Reuters.
China's blue-chip CSI300 index was up 1.3 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 2.40 per cent, the consumer staples sector up 0.3 per cent, the real estate index up 2.70 per cent.
But, the healthcare sub-index down 0.04 per cent. The smaller Shenzhen index was flat.
The yuan was quoted at 6.6348 per US dollar, 0.07 per cent weaker than the previous close of 6.63.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Shanghai Chinafortune Co Ltd up 10.04 per cent, followed by SJEC Corp gaining 10 per cent and China Enterprise Co Ltd up by 9.06 per cent.
The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Baotou Huazi Industry Co Ltd down 9.97 per cent, followed by Shandong Xinchao Energy Corp Ltd losing 5.54 per cent and Tederic Machinery Co Ltd down by 5.22 per cent.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 9.3 per cent, while China's H-share index is up 22.8 per cent.