SHANGHAI, China

Chinese stocks rose Wednesday as a rally in U.S. gold futures pushed metals shares higher. But large-capitalized shares fell on fears that upcoming share offerings might sap demand.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3 percent, or 16.67 points, to 5,310.72. The Shenzhen Composite Index rose 0.4 percent to 1,476.10.

Analysts said they expect initial public offerings by China Construction Bank, Bank of Beijing and other major companies to pressure liquidity, as investors shift funds to those shares.

The IPOs by the two banks alone are expected to attract over 1 trillion yuan (US$132 billion (£á97.2 billion) in subscription.

"Technically, the market needs to take a correction after the strong rises in past two months and the upcoming IPOs provide an excuse for investors to take profits now," said Simon Wang, a strategist at Xiangcai Securities.

Large caps weakened, with Industrial & Commercial Bank of China down 1.0 percent to 6.80 yuan, China Merchant Bank off 2.2 percent to 36.70 yuan and Citic Securities down 2.5 percent to 84.91 yuan.

But metal stocks rose after fund buying boosted gold futures to a six-week high in the U.S. market Tuesday.

Zhongjin Gold rose 1.7 percent to 122.25 yuan, Shandong Gold Mining gained 4.2 percent to 145.99 yuan and Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. surged 4.8 percent to 51.49 yuan.

In currency dealings, the dollar was at 7.5517 around 0730 GMT on the over-the-counter market, up from Tuesday's close of 7.5495.