Major mainland stock indexed posted their biggest one-day gain in a month on Wednesday after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided to give the yuan reserve currency status.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.33 percent to 3,536.91 points on Wednesday. The Shenzhen Component Index ended the day up 0.87 percent at 12,186.27 points. The CSI 300 index of the biggest companies traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen jumped 3.63 percent to finish at 3,721.96 points.
The ChiNext Index, which tracks the country's NASDAQ-style board for growth enterprises fell 1.58 percent to close at 2,613.26 points.
Insurance, banking and brokerage shares outperformed the broader market on Wednesday. China Life Insurance Co, China CITIC Bank Corp Ltd and GF Securities Co surged by the 10 percent daily limit.
The IMF's board voted on November 30 to include the yuan in its SDR basket of reserve currencies with a weight of 10.92 percent, making China's currency the fifth in the SDR. The market viewed the yuan's inclusion as a positive for China's equity market in the long term because it can draw more inflows into China's stock markets.
Investors also see the upcoming Central Economic Working Conference as a potential positive. The central government will set the national agenda for next year's economy at the meeting. The market believes the government will set a "proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy" for 2016 due to the continued downward pressures on China's economy, which will attract more funds into stocks.
It is likely that China will start a registration-based IPO system before completing the revision of its securities law, the financial news magazine Caixin reported on Wednesday.
