SHANGHAI stocks edged up after China's imports in March grew robustly, indicating the Chinese economy is recovering.

The Shanghai Composite Index added 0.02 percent to 2,226.13 points yesterday.

China's imports surged 14.1 percent in March from a year earlier, the General Administration of Customs said yesterday. The imports rebounded from a slump of 15.2 percent in February.

"Imports have been rebounding steadily on a quarterly basis, indicating China's economy is recovering," said Ding Shuang, senior China economist at Citi Investment Research.