BEIJING - Shares related to new energy vehicles, IT, software and nonferrous metal were the best performers in net profit growth last year among China's listed companies.

A total of 1,489 Chinese listed companies had released preliminary earnings reports as of Sunday, and about 72 percent of them showed a net profit increase last year, China Securities Journal reported on Monday.

They registered combined revenue of 5.82 trillion yuan ($844 billion) in 2016, up 18.76 percent from 2015. However, their combined net profits grew at a slower rate of 11.54 percent to 656.5 billion yuan.

New energy vehicle sales rose 30.3 percent year on year in February, data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers showed.

Nonferrous metal producers did well, as did IT and software companies.

Chinese benchmark stock index Shanghai Composite Index Monday rose 0.76 percent to 3,237.02 points, and the smaller Shenzhen index gained 1.04 percent to 10,559.88 points.