stock market photo: Xinhua

For the first time since July 15, China's stock benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose to 3,400 at Tuesday's opening, mainly driven by shares related to banks and civil airports.

The smaller Shenzhen index went up 1.05 percent and the NASDAQ-style ChiNext board up 1.02 percent.

The market rally was mainly driven by gains in the banking, civil airport and shipyard manufacturing sectors.

Yang Delong, chief economist at Shenzhen-based First Seafront Fund Management Co, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the rally of bank-related shares was a result of recent monetary policy assurances, as Yi Gang, governor of the People's Bank of China, said in a recent interview that Chinese monetary policy will be more "flexible, appropriate and targeted."

"The market was previously concerned that the monetary policy would become tighter in the second half of the year," explained Yang.

According to Yang, China's A-share market will continue to be a "slow" bull market.

Stocks were also climbing in Hong Kong on Tuesday. The benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 2.47 percent as of press time to 24,978.6, led by gambling and tech shares. 

Sands China Ltd edged up 4.33 percent to HK$31.3 ($4.04). Shares of Chinese tech giant Tencent climbed 3.39 percent to HK$519, reflecting market confidence despite the Trump administration threatening a ban on its WeChat business.

Tencent, which has the biggest representation on the Hang Seng index with an almost 12 percent weighting, slid to a six-week low on Monday, extending last week's loss. 

Global Times