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Shares drop 2.44%, led by heavy weights

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-11-28 15:46

Chinese equities closed 2.44 percent lower on Friday led by banks, property developers and coal producers.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished the day at 1,871 points, down 2.44 percent or 46 points. The Shenzhen Component Index dropped 0.37 percent, or 24 points, to 6,658.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 594 to 244 in Shanghai and by 503 to 223 in Shenzhen. Combined turnover shrank to 73.51 billion yuan ($10.76 billion) from 123.48 billion yuan set the previous day.

In November, the benchmark index rose 8.24 percent, the biggest monthly increase since August last year.

Analysts said the increase should have been larger after a 4-trillion-yuan economic stimulus package was announced by the government on November 9 and an unusually large interest rate cut was made by the central bank on Wednesday.

A Guangfa Securities note said concerns over further economic slowdown and sagging corporate earnings dampened investor sentiment despite moves by the government and the central bank.

Banks, property developers and coal producers posted the biggest losses. Bank of Communications lost 5.73 percent to 4.61 yuan. China Vanke, the country's largest publicly traded real estate firm, was down 2.71 percent to 6.82 yuan. China Shenhua, the largest coal producer in China, dipped 1.09 percent to 17.31 yuan.

Shares opened slightly lower on Friday with the key Shanghai index 0.84 percent lower than the previous close. The index had been dropping since midday as heavy weights lost gains from yesterday.

On Thursday, Chinese equities closed 1.05 percent higher in response to an unusually large interest rate cut, but they gave up some gains due to profit-taking. The Shanghai index jumped 6.05 percent at Thursday's opening, with Shenzhen shares up 5.96 percent, before easing.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) cut the benchmark one-year lending rate to 5.58 percent from 6.66 percent and the one-year deposit rate to 2.52 percent from 3.60 percent. These cuts, of 108 basis points each, were the largest since the Asia crisis of the late 90s. They took effect on Thursday.

The PBOC also said, as of December 5, it would lower the reserve requirement ratio by 1 percentage point at large banks and 2 percentage points at other banks.