Chinese stocks opened higher on Thursday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 1.73 percent at 2,978.03 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index opened 1.78 percent higher at 10,076.09 points, Xinhua reported.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, opened 1.84 percent higher at 1,924.78 points.


Tokyo shares rise sharply in morning trade

Tokyo, Aug 27 (IANS) Tokyo shares ended the morning session sharply higher on Thursday.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average skyrocketed 347.48 points, or 1.89 percent, from Wednesday to 18,724.31, reported Xinhua news agency.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was up 38.52 points, or 2.60 percent, to 1,517.49.

US stocks rally after heavy sell off

US stocks advanced in the morning session on Wednesday, as investors bought the dip after a sharp decline of six days.

At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 187.27 points (1.20 percent), to 15,853.71. The S&P 500 added 22.45 points (1.20 percent), to 1,890.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 55.37 points (1.23 percent), to 4,561.85.

Traders remained cautious after an unexpected reversal Tuesday, when US stocks pared early rebound in the final section of the trading and extended the drop.

S&P 500 lost more than 2 trillion dollars in terms of market value after the six-day losing streak.

The recent heavy sell off was sparked by the expectations for the US Federal Reserve to increase interest rates as soon as September and global growth concerns.

The upbeat economic data from the US renewed investors' expectation for an interest-rate hike. New orders for manufactured durable goods in July increased 2 percent to 241.1 billion US dollars, the US Commerce Department announced on Wednesday.

US sales of new single-family houses in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 507,000 units, said the Commerce Department.

US consumer confidence for August came in at 101.5, up from 91 in July, according to the New York-based research group Conference Board.

In company news, Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield-services provider, agreed to buy Cameron International Corp. for 14.8 billion US dollars.


Spanish stock market falls

Spanish stock market index fell 1.29 percent on Wednesday to close at 9,984.50 points, down from the 10,115.40 points of Tuesday.

ArcelorMittal shares led falls losing 3.30 percent, followed by Acerinox, FCC, Repsol, Banco Santander and Sacyr that lost 3.22 percent, 2.74 percent, 2.44 percent, 2.25 percent and 2.23 percent respectively, Xinhua reported.

On the other hand, Abengoa "B" shares led rises climbing 15.71 percent, followed by IAG, Tecnicas Reunidas, OHL, Bankia and Ferrovial that rose 1.63 percent, 1.04 percent, 0.87 percent, 0.87 percent and 0.29 percent respectively.

Meanwhile, Spain's risk premium stood at 140.30 points on Wednesday closing time and Spain's 10-year bond interest rate stood at 2.114 percent, both showing no big differences when compared with Tuesday closing time.