Money

Chinese shares fall to three-month low - Fri

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-02-05 16:04

BEIJING: Chinese equities retreated 1.87 percent Friday to 2,939,40 points, the lowest level since it ended at 2,970.53 points on Oct 14, dragged down by coal, energy and metal shares.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 55.91 points, to close at at 2,939.40 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index dropped 2.07 percent, or 252.34 points, to close at 11,917.14 points.

Combined turnover declined to 193.4 billion yuan ($28.31 billion), from 199.5 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 722 to 157 in Shanghai and 697 to 162 in Shenzhen.

The Shanghai gauge was affected by an overnight losses in the US and the European market, where investors rethink global recovery amid mounting European debt problems and worse-than-expected US jobless data.

The Dow Jones tumbled 2.61 percent Thursday to 10,002.18, the biggest drop in seven months. The Standard & Poor's 500 index plummeted 34.17, or 3.11 percent, to 1,063.11 and the Nasdaq was down 65.48, or 2.99 percent to end at 2,125.43 Thursday.

Coal, energy and metal shares led the losses on commodity prices decline. China's major energy producers, including Jizhong Energy Resources Co, Hengyuan Coal Industry and Electricity Power, slumped more than 5 percent.

China Shenhua Energy Co, the nation's biggest coal producer, was down 3.15 percent to 28.3 yuan.

Jiangxi Copper slid 1.22 percent to 33.42 yuan. Zijin Mining Group Co, the nation's biggest gold producer, sank 2.36 percent to 8.29 yuan. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd., the country's biggest lightweight metal maker, lost 3.03 percent to end at 12.15 yuan.

Real estate stocks remained sluggish, with the total 86 shares down 3.27 percent. By Friday, real estate shares have slid more than 20 percent since December as the government rolled out a string of measures to clamp down on property speculation.

China Vanke, the country's largest property developer by market value, plummeted 2.23 percent to 9.2 yuan despite the company said Friday its January revenue surged 185.9 percent year on year due to strong sales in floor space.

Poly Real Estate Group Co, Ltd, China's second largest developer by market value, continued Thursday's losses, down 3.98 percent to 19.07 yuan.