SHARES rose for a third straight day yesterday after the central bank vowed to support economic growth, but trading volume touched a three-month low as many investors see the rebound as short-lived.

    The People’s Bank of China made clear late Tuesday it was ready to fight any downturn in the world’s second-largest economy, but added it would avoid “pumping out” too much cash.

    The comments reinforced expectations more policy easing is on the cards. But market excitement over such stimulus has flagged after recent government crackdown on margin financing signalled regulators’ desire to channel money into the real economy, rather than the stock market.

    The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.8 percent, to 3,434.12, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.5 percent, to 3,157.70 points.

    Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank Of China, down 0.7 percent to 4.07 yuan; China Railway Group, up 2.1 percent to 8.31 yuan and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., down 0.7 percent to 5.70 yuan.

    In Shenzhen, TCL Corp., up 9.9 percent to 4.21 yuan; BOE Technology, up 5.2 percent to 3.01 yuan and Shenwan Hongyuan, up 3.9 percent to 15.90 yuan, were among the most actively traded.

    Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 17.2 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 12.8 billion shares.

    (SD-Agencies)