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Key index slides 1.6% as enthusiasm wanes

(China Daily/Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-24 14:08

China's main stock index ended 1.56 percent lower yesterday as doubts emerged over a US bailout plan for the financial sector and initial enthusiasm faded for a Chinese government rescue package for the stock market.

The index's fall was cushioned, however, by gains in several heavily weighted bluechips such as PetroChina, on signs that the government would increase its holdings of their shares. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2201.51 points, off its low of 2181.96.

Falling stocks in Shanghai overwhelmed gainers by 838 to 94, while turnover in Shanghai A shares was moderate at 77.33 billion yuan, down from Monday's 113.2 billion yuan.

The index had soared 18 percent over the previous two sessions in response to a government package that included a cut in the stock stamp tax and planned purchases of shares in listed State-owned companies.

"This should be the end of the rebound," said Gao Lingzhi, strategist at Great Wall Securities in Shenzhen. "The government intervention could only help to stabilize the market. It cannot reverse the downward trend of the market or corporate earnings growth."

China's customs administration warned that a slowdown in Chinese exports to the United States due to the impact of the global credit crunch and yuan appreciation could last for an extended period, the official China Securities Journal reported yesterday.

PetroChina, Asia's top oil producer, gained 3.87 percent to 12.61 yuan after announcing that its parent was increasing its stake in the firm, the first central government-controlled company to buy back shares in its listed unit. PetroChina said the move was in response to government support for share buybacks, fueling speculation that other state parents of listed companies would follow suit.

China Shenhua Energy, the country's biggest coal producer, gained 4.86 percent to 26.10 yuan.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China's biggest lender, gained 4.57 percent to 4.35 yuan, while China Construction Bank rose 1.08 percent to 4.66 yuan on expectations that the government would buy their shares.

Other banks fell, after jumping by their 10 percent daily limit for two consecutive sessions. Bank of Communications slipped 4.94 percent to 5.97 yuan.

Property developers declined after a quarterly survey by the Chinese central bank showed that residents' interest in buying a home had dropped to a 10-year low as China's property market enters a downward correction. China Vanke, the country's biggest property developer, slumped 7.56 percent to 5.50 yuan.