July 14 (Reuters) – China’s key stock index ended up 0.8 percent on Wednesday, rebounding from the biggest single-day percentage drop in two weeks the day before, led by construction and property firms on optimism further tightening policies will not be too severe as economic growth slows.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC finished at 2,470.4 points, after closing down 1.6 percent on Tuesday.

Analysts said firmer sentiment will help underpin Agricultural Bank of China’s [ABC.UL] debut in Shanghai on Thursday although investors remained generally cautious.

“Volume was still very thin ahead of AgBank’s listing. That means investors are adopting a cautious stance, awaiting its listing ” said Zheng Weigang, an analyst at Shanghai Securities.

He said that if volume breached 100 billion yuan, discounting turnover from AgBank’s listing, the index may find momentum to rise above the 2,500-point level that has proved a strong resistence.

Volume edged up to 70 billion yuan ($10.34 billion) from Tuesday’s 61 billion yuan.

Real estate stocks, which had slumped on Tuesday after the government said it would continue its clampdown on property speculation, eased from earlier session highs but retained most of their speculative rebound.

China’s stock market, one of the world’s worst performing this year, down nearly 25 percent, has been hard hit by Beijing’s moves to cool the mainland’s real estate fever, with investors closely eyeing any policy moves for new market direction. (Reporting by Chen Yixin and Jacqueline Wong)