Chinese share prices dropped Friday after failing to recover
from a drastic dive the previous trading day following concerns
about possible aggravated inflation.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended the daily trading
at 5,315.54 points, down 14.48 points, or 0.27 percent.
The indicator peaked at 5,382.7 points and bottomed at 5,217.64
points, a daily volatility rate of 3.1 percent.
The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller bourse in Guangdong
Province closed at 17,160.12 points, down 305.34 points, or 1.75
percent.
Losses outnumbered gains by 527 to 337 in Shanghai, and 405 to
223 in Shenzhen.
The combined daily transaction volume on the two exchanges
shrank to 118.19 billion yuan (US$15.9 billion) from 128.2 billion
yuan (US$17.2 billion) Thursday.
According to market observers, the reluctance of investors to
trade was partly due to the fact that the central bank sent a
warning signal on inflation on Thursday in its report on the
implementation of monetary policy in the third quarter.
Market observers said the major index in Shanghai lost around 10
percent in this week's trading.
In Friday trading, PetroChina, China's biggest oil producer who
accounted for 25 percent of the total weight of counters for the
Shanghai Composite Index, slipped 0.03 percent to 38.18 yuan.
However, other blue chips, those in the financial sector in
particular, were on an upward trend.
The Industrial and Commercial Bank rose 1.09 percent to 8.35
yuan, Bank of China was up 1.41 percent to 7.19 yuan, China
Construction Bank climbed 0.56 percent to 10.83 yuan and China
Life, the nation's largest life insurer, increased 1.44 percent to
62.11 yuan.
Petrochemical heavyweight Sinopec, the nation's largest oil
refiner, increased 3.87 percent to 23.36 yuan.
The Hushen 300 Index, which tracks one fifth of stocks on both
the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses, closed at 5,040.52 points, down
53.15 points, or 1.04 percent, from the previous trading day.
(Xinhua News Agency November 10, 2007)
