1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares close higher on renewed opening-up pledge

BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed higher Tuesday as investor sentiment was largely strengthened after the country announced further opening-up measures.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.66 percent, at 3,190.32 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.05 percent higher at 10,765.62 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses rose to around 485.2 billion yuan (about 77.1 billion U.S. dollars) from 436.8 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

China will launch a number of landmark measures this year to significantly broaden market access, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference in the southern island province of Hainan on Tuesday.

China will accelerate the opening up of the insurance industry, ease restrictions on the establishment of foreign financial institutions in China and expand their business scope, and open up more areas of cooperation between Chinese and foreign financial markets, Xi said.

He also pledged measures including significantly lowering import tariffs for vehicles, while reducing import tariffs for some other products, and enhancing protection of intellectual property rights.

Boosted by Xi's remarks, financial shares, particularly banks and insurance companies, posted strong gains. Ping An Insurance gained 3.47 percent to 68.25 yuan, while China Construction Bank jumped 6.11 percent to 7.81 yuan.

Steelmakers also lead the market rise Tuesday as they reported estimate-beating first-quarter performance. SGIS Songshan rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to 6.57 yuan, while Sansteel Minguang was up 7.83 percent to 18.74 yuan.

The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.33 percent to close at 1,835.52 points Monday. Enditem