1st LD-Writethru: Chinese stocks surge Tuesday despite weak GDP data

Chinese shares soared on Tuesday and regained the 3,000-point mark, although new GDP data hit a 25-year low.

The Shanghai index gained 3.22 percent to close at 3,007.74 points. The smaller Shenzhen index climbed 3.41 percent to close at 10,501.79 points.

The ChiNext Index, the NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, surged 3.07 percent to close at 2,241.7 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses stood at 583.2 billion yuan (88.91 billion U.S. dollars).

Gainers outnumbered losers 990 to 8 in Shanghai and 1,541 to 14 in Shenzhen.

The real estate sector extended its winning streak, taking cues from rising home prices and increasing demand.

The sub-index related to the Belt and Road Initiative led the charge. China Railway Group and China Railway Construction Corporation both rose by the daily limit of 10 percent.

More than 100 stocks on the two bourses rose by the daily limit of 10 percent, and more than 758 stocks rose beyond 5 percent.

The Shanghai benchmark index opened modestly higher on Tuesday with 0.02-percent growth. Both the Shanghai and Shenzhen indexes fluctuated slightly between positive and negative territory during morning session before sharply soaring more than 3 percent shortly after the lunch break.

The freshly released data pointed to China's subdued economic expansion. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday, China's economy grew 6.9 percent year on year in 2015, the slowest annual expansion in 25 years.

Growth in the fourth quarter came in at 6.8 percent year on year, the lowest quarterly rate since 2009, the data showed.

The capital market saw relief as economic data was in line with the official target, although it hit a record low.

China's economy still operated "within a reasonable range" in 2015, with optimized structure, accelerated upgrades, new growth drivers and better livelihoods, NBS chief Wang Baoan said at a press conference. Endi