China Investment Corp has sold US$70.4 million shares of Morgan Stanley to cut its ownership of the investment bank to under 10 percent, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

China's US$300 billion sovereign wealth fund sold 2.6 million shares at US$27.09 apiece, which reduced its holding in the investment bank to about 159 million shares.

After the transaction, the fund owns about 9.1 percent in Morgan Stanley, based on 1.75 billion fully diluted shares outstanding in the second quarter.

The company, which began buying Morgan Stanley shares in late 2007 with US$5.6 billion, has unloaded a total of 16.8 million shares in the New York-based bank for US$466.8 million since July 21.

The sale keeps the company's ownership stake under 10 percent to avoid closer regulatory scrutiny because ownership above that limit could mean additional disclosure requirements.

The rate of return on CIC's global portfolio was 11.7 percent in 2009, compared with a negative 2.1 percent in 2008.

CIC's global investment portfolio was invested with 36 percent in equities, 32 percent in cash funds, 26 percent in fixed-income securities and 6 percent in alternative investments at the end of 2009, its annual report said.

CIC, formed in 2007, diversified its portfolio with an emphasis on publicly traded equities and debt securities in global markets as well as directly investing in high-quality companies.