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SHANGHAI, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Chinese stocks fell on Thursday
as bank and real estate shares continued a slide that began this
week because of tightening monetary policy.
The Shanghai Composite Index <.SSEC> ended the morning down
0.91 percent at 5,049.315 points, after hitting a low of
5,046.685. It dropped 1.54 percent on Wednesday.
Losing Shanghai A shares outnumbered gainers by 451 to 372,
while turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to 50.9 billion yuan
($6.9 billion) from Wednesday morning's 61.9 billion.
Wednesday's fall probably marked the end of a two-week
rebound from the three-month low of 4,778.727 hit in late
November, and the index may well drop back below 5,000 points,
analysts believe.
Banks and property shares began slipping on Monday after the
central bank announced a large reserve ratio hike at the weekend
in an effort to curb loan growth. Tuesday's announcement that
November inflation was an 11-year high added to the jitters.
"Investors are worrying about the possibility of a hike in
interest rates this weekend, so blue chips may stay soft for some
days," said Xu Yinhui, analyst at Guotai Junan Securities.
China Shipping Container Lines <601866.SS><2866.HK> slid 3.37
percent to 11.18 yuan on profit-taking after its strong debut in
Shanghai on Wednesday, when it soared 75 percent from its IPO
price.
Bank of China <601988.SS><3988.HK> fell 1.22 percent to 6.49
yuan, while major property developer Vanke <000002.SZ> slipped
3.13 percent to 30.05 yuan.
Steel shares were weak, led by Baoshan Iron and Steel
<600019.SS>, which tumbled 4.76 percent to 16.20 yuan. Suning <002024.SZ> plunged 8.86 percent to 62.30 yuan after
saying it had abandoned a plan to acquire electronics retailer
Dazhong because the firms disagreed on key issues.
The Shanghai Securities News quoted unnamed sources as saying
the reason was a higher bid for Dazhong by Suning's arch-rival
GOME <0493.HK>. GOME president Chen Xiao told Reuters that his
company was in touch with Dazhong and "there may be a result
fairly soon," but declined to elaborate.
Among gainers, Xian Seastar Modern-tech <600185.SS> jumped
its 10 percent daily limit to 8.01 yuan after saying it would
place up to 240 million A shares to finance the purchase of a
property business worth over 2 billion yuan.
Consumer-related shares outperformed with Hunan New Wellfull
<600975.SS>, a pork and fertiliser producer, up 6.22 percent to
14.51 yuan. Food-related shares have been surging since the
inflation data because investors think high food price inflation
may help the bottom lines of producers.
Airline shares were strong with China Eastern Airlines
<600115.SS> up 5.75 percent to 19.86 yuan. The share has gained
15 percent this week. Traders cite accelerating aprpeciation of
the yuan, which helps to cut debt and fuel costs, as well as
continued speculation about consolidation in the industry.
($1 = 7.36 yuan)
(Reporting by Claire Zhang; Editing by Andrew Torchia)
(([email protected]; (8621) 6104-1761))
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