September 1, 2010 (Chinavestor) – Despite surprisingly strong PMI data out of China, Chinese stocks finished the day lower with the Hang Seng shedding 1% and the Shanghai Composite (SHA:000001) shedding half a percent. U.S. stocks finally picked up the slack, buoyed by some strong manufacturing data here in the States as the Dow Jones Industrial surged 2.5%, booking its best performance in months. It was an exceptional day for China-specific ETFs as the PowerShares Golden Dragon Halter USX China ETF (NYSE:PGJ) soared 2.7% while the iShares/FTSE Xinhua China 25 Index (NYSE:FXI) added nearly 2.6%. Small-caps led as the Claymore/AlphaShares China Small Cap ETF (NYSE:HAO) gained almost 2.8% despite a report last from Citic that said Chinese small-caps may be overvalued.
Selected Key stocks of the day: Synutra Int. (NASDAQ:SYUT), Home Inns & Hotels Management (NASDAQ:HMIN), solar maker LDK Solar (NASDAQ:LDK), and China Eastern Airlines (NYSE:CEA).
Looking at the large-caps, Synutra International (Nasdaq:SYUT) finally notched a positive day, soaring more than 7% to lead the winners. Solar stocks shined on the day, led by Suntech Power (NYSE:STP), which added 6.72%. Trina Solar (NYSE:TSL) and Yingli Green Energy (NYSE:YGE) both finished higher by more than 5% and LDK Solar (NYSE:LDK) gained almost 5%.
Home Inns & Hotels Management (Nasdaq:HMIN) and City Telecom (Nasdaq:CTEL) each surged more than 6%. China Eastern Airlines (NYSE:CEA) turned in a solid performance, popping more than 5% while China Telecom (NYSE:CHA) and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemcial (NYSE:SHI) each added more than 4.7% on the day.
It was such a strong day for Chinese ADRs that the biggest loser lost only 1.4% and that dubious distinction goes to VanceInfo Technologies (NYSE:VIT). China Real Estate Investment (Nasdaq:CRIC) lost a mere 1.1% on the day while WuXi PharmaTech (NYSE:WX) slipped almost 1%. Silvercorp Metals (NYSE:SVM) gave up about half a percent while Giant Interactive (NYSE:GA) dipped about a third of a percent. CNinsure (Nasdaq:CISG) also finished the day in the red, though not by much.
As we noted earlier, small-caps turned in a stellar performance today in the face of the Citic report that we covered. Citic thinks Chinese small-caps are looking overvalued, but that didn't weigh on the group today. eLong (Nasdaq:LONG) surged almost 9.2%. Jewelery retailer Fuqi International (Nasdaq:FUQI) soared almost 8.6% for one of its best days in quite a while. HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries (AMEX:HQS) broke out of its recent funk to add almost 8%. AirMedia Group (Nasdaq:AMCN), China Green Agriculture (NYSE:CGA) and UTStarcom (Nasdaq:UTSI) all added more than 6% on the day.
Wonder Auto Technology (Nasdaq:WATG), General Steel (NYSE:GSI) and China TransInfo Technology (Nasdaq:CTFO) were solid performers, all adding more than 5%. A-Power Energy Generation (Nasdaq:APWR) showed some signs of life by popping 4.7% to round out the small-cap winners.
The losers were relatively contained today as highlighted by the fact that the biggest loser lost barely more than 5%. That honor goes to Noah Education (NYSE:NED). That dragged down ChinaEdu (Nasdaq:CEDU), which lost 1.1%. China-Biotics (Nasdq:CHBT) slipped 4% and Tiens Biotech (AMEX:TBV) followed with a drop of nearly 2%.
Infrastructure names were weak with China Architectural Engineering (Nasdaq:CAEI) tumbling by 3.66% and China Infrastructure Investment (Nasdaq:CIIC) gave up almost 2.8%. A strong move in oil futures couldn't save WSP Holdings (NYSE:WH) from a 2.7% drop. American Dairy (NYSE:ADY) also lost more than 2%.
ATA Inc. (Nasdaq:ATAI) and Xinyuan Real Estate (NYSE:XIN) round out the losers, each shedding just over 1% on the day.
