Economy

Markets

Industries

Insights

Reports

Events

Shares down 0.8% led by financial, property firms

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-10-21 16:33

Chinese stocks slid for the first time in three days as cautious investors cut holdings of property and financial stocks to lock in profit.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 15.48 points, or 0.78 percent, to end at 1,958.53. The Shenzhen Component Index dropped 37.10 points, or 0.58 percent, to 6,389.19.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 482-329 in Shanghai and 365-333 in Shenzhen. Aggregate turnover rose to 56.91 billion yuan ($8.3 billion) from Monday's 46.85 billion yuan.

Investor confidence failed to recover because of uncertainties over the economic fundamentals, according to Nanjing Securities.

China's economy expanded 9 percent in the third quarter from a year earlier, down from 10.1 percent in the second quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Citic Securites said on Monday the economy and corporate earnings growth were still slowing and would hit bottom in 2009.

Profit-taking triggered sell-offs in financial and property stocks. They had rallied over several trading sessions through Monday in expectation of further loosening of macro-economic controls to stimulate the economy.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 1.73 percent to 3.98 yuan and the Bank of China fell 1.86 percent to 3.17 yuan. Hua Xia Bank slipped 0.85 percent to 8.16 yuan after it estimated net profit would jump more than 90 percent in the first three quarters over the same period last year.

Citic Securities, China's biggest publicly traded brokerage, slumped 3.41 percent to 19.84 yuan.

China Vanke, the country's biggest listed real estate firm, shed 2.38 percent to 6.97 yuan. Poly Real Estate Group Co. lost 3.22 percent to 15.03 yuan.

The agriculture sector extended gains. The National Development and Reform Commission on Monday said it would raise the minimum grain purchase prices and agricultural subsidies from next year to boost grain production and farmers' incomes.

Xinjiang Korla Pear Co  jumped 8.77 percent to 6.45 yuan, extending a 10 percent surge on Monday. Xinjiang Guannong Fruit and Antler Co advanced 6.77 percent to 23.51 yuan, following a 9.66 percent rise on Monday.

The equities market would experience more volatility in the short term as the government was in the process of policy shifts and the global financial crisis deepened, Citic Securites said in a research note on Monday.