Chinese shares slump 2.40 pct in morning session
5/9/2008 17:25
Chinese shares plummeted 2.40 percent this morning, dragged down by an
overnight Wall Street fall and a dampened investor confidence.
The Shanghai
Composite Index dived 2.40 percent, or 54.73 points, to close at 2,222.68. The
Shenzhen index fell 1.54 percent, or 115.42 points, to close at 7,358.18
points.
Wall Street slid yesterday with Dow Jones down more than 340 points
as disappointing jobless and retail data left investors in doubt of a recovery
in the US economy, and dealers said the downturn partly contributed to China
equity's fall.
Aggregate turnover was 20.8 billion yuan (US$three billion)
from 38.99 billion yuan on the previous day.
Losses outnumbered gains by
756-64 in Shanghai and 646-33 in Shenzhen.
Yesterday, the Shanghai and
Shenzhen stock exchanges released new transaction regulations respectively,
saying the country will further enhance market transparency and perfect
transaction mechanism. These rules will take effect as of Oct. 1.
According
to the regulation, companies no longer have to suspend transactions of their
shares when they publish important information, or release annual reports.
Before that, companies halt shares trading for an hour during these
periods.
Temporary trading suspension was allowed when a company's share
price fluctuate abnormally, said the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
Meanwhile, a
trading moratorium for investors who had bought stakes in companies before their
initial public offers (IPO) will be slashed to 12 months from current three
years.
"The regulation, which intend to better link up with international
rules, will help to build a more effective and fair domestic stock market in the
long run. However, it seems not as favourable as investors expected," said Tang
Xiaosheng, Guosen Securities senior analyst.
Investors expected that the
government would adopt more effective measures to save the market, which has
slumped about 58 percent this year, he said.
"The news that China Merchants
Securities planned to launch an IPO also dampened investors confidence," Tang
said.
China Merchants Securities Co Ltd said late yesterday it would issue
358.55 million A-shares in domestic market, accounting for 10 percent of the
company's total outstanding shares.
As for individual shares, China Shenhua,
the country's biggest coal company, dipped 2.84 percent to 24.62 yuan. China
Life, the leading life insurer, slide 2.83 percent to 23.68 yuan, while the Bank
of Communications dived 2.57 percent to close at 6.83 yuan.
Xinhua
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