CHINESE stocks jumped about 3 percent in volatile trading yesterday, led by property and infrastructure shares, after the central bank cut interest rates for the third time in six months to shore up the world’s second-biggest economy.

    While the reduction in benchmark lending and deposit rates by the People’s Bank of China over the weekend came as no major surprise, the move gave investors an excuse to pick up stock after the market slumped to its biggest decline in nearly five years last week.

    “We still stick to our view that the market is in an upward trend, despite increasing volatility,” said Li Haoshu, strategist at Chuangcai Securities Co.

    The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 2.9 percent to 4,690.53, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 3.05 percent to 4,333.58 points. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 4.48 percent to 2,373.92.

    Real estate and infrastructure stocks gained as investors bet the sector would benefit from lower borrowing costs.

    The start-up board ChiNext, China’s version of the U.S. NASDAQ, surged 5.6 percent to a fresh record, spurred by hopes the tech-heavy index would benefit from China’s economic restructuring efforts.

    Traders said investors were favoring ChiNext shares because they were little affected by regulator moves to tighten rules in margin trading.

    “I expect to see the market continue to swing widely this week,” said Xiao Shijun, analyst at Guodu Securities in Beijing. “The cumulative effect from rate cuts will push up share prices gradually.”

    (SD-Agencies)