1st LD-Writethru: China's main stock index rises for 11th straight day

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose for a 11th straight trading day Friday on the back of robust foreign trade data, with bluechip companies leading the gain.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.1 percent higher at 3,428.94 points, extending consecutive rises since Dec. 27.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.02 percent lower at 11,461.99 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses stood at 461.3 billion yuan (about 71 billion U.S. dollars), down from 477 billion yuan the previous day.

The rally was mainly led by companies with large capitalization, especially in the real estate and home appliances sectors.

Qingdao Haier, a home appliance maker, saw its shares up 2.58 percent.

The SSE 50 Index, which tracks 50 stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with large market capitalization and high liquidity, gained 0.72 percent.

The strong performance came after trade data released Friday showed foreign trade volume up 14.2 percent to 27.8 trillion yuan in 2017, following drops in the previous two years.

Exports increased 10.8 percent to reach 15.3 trillion yuan while imports were up 18.7 percent to 12.5 trillion yuan in 2017, the General Administration of Customs (GAC) said.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, closed 1 percent lower at 1,785.7 points. Enditem