Chinese investors look at an electronic board showing share prices at a securities company in Shanghai June 6, 2005. (Newsphoto)

The future of China's deeply troubled stock markets went from bad to worse, slumping to fresh eight-year lows as regulators' plans to solve the overhang of non-tradable government-owned shares heightened fears more losses lie ahead.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A- and B-shares listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, closed at a fresh eight-year low Friday, down 2.43 points, or 0.24 percent, at 1,013.64.

It was the lowest close since February 24, 1997 after three consecutive sessions of losses that saw the composite trim 3.8 percent of its value.

Dealers said they expect the index to fall through the key technical mark of 1,000 points soon unless Beijing steps in with strong medicine to cure broken investor confidence.

"The market has been falling for years and investors are numb," said Zhang Qi, analyst from Haitong Securities.

"The key is to recover investors' confidence. There is more that the government could do to better support investors in the market."

In April, Beijing tentatively moved to prop up the beleaguered exchanges to not just halt the financial hemorrhaging but also as a first stitch in a wound that has been festering for years.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission chose four companies under which the non-tradable shares would be listed, and then announced this week it would select 10 more.

But at both junctures, anxious investors responded with more selling.

"The sentiment was so weak that the index has been falling really fast. Some companies' stocks even lost all of last year's gains in these several sessions," said Zhang.

It was not the first time that regulators sought a solution to the parlous overhang, in which of the 1,200 listed companies Beijing owns 66 percent of the 3.52 trillion yuan (US$425 billion) of market capitalization.

Indeed it is these state holdings that has stopped cold the growth of China's bourses, quite the opposite of what would be expected in an economy that has been growing at more than eight percent for two decades.

Regulators first tried to resolve the overhang of state shares in 2001 to raise funding for China's fledgling social security system but panicked investors sent stocks plunging, forcing authorities to abort the plan.

Since then, Beijing has repeatedly vowed to fix the problem but only soiled the wound by constantly balking at private and institutional investor demands that their interests be protected in any sale program.

The market last peaked at 2,245 points four years ago.

(Agencies)

parlous : fraught with danger（危險的）