Chinese equities ended a week of gains Wednesday amid profit-taking by investors who became wary over the dim economic outlook, analysts said.
The Shanghai index fell 46.87 points, or 2 percent to 2,291.55.The Shenzhen Component Index dropped 198.59 points, or 2.22 percent to 8,756.25.
Losses outnumbered gains by 734 to 199 in Shanghai and 628 to 122 in Shenzhen.
Combined turnover shrank to 200.78 billion yuan (US$29.4 billion) from 228.29 billion yuan on the previous trading day.
The overnight slump on Wall Street also cast a shadow on the domestic market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index dived 115.65 points, or 1.49 percent, to close at 7,660.21 points.
Oil shares soared Wednesday, driven by news of oil-product price hikes announced late Tuesday.
The National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, raised the benchmark retail prices for gasoline and diesel by 5.33 percent and 3.74 percent, as of Wednesday.
Zhundong Petroleum Technology, Pingzhuang Energy Resources, and Taian Lurun rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to 12.4 yuan, 9.48 yuan and 7.29 yuan, respectively.
PetroChina and SinoPec, China's two largest oil companies, jumped in the morning session but closed lower, in reaction to figures released after the market closed Tuesday by the Ministry of Finance, which said that state-owned enterprises in the petroleum industry saw a "huge" decline in profits last year.
PetroChina dropped 1.7 percent to 11.57 yuan, and SinoPec declined 0.56 percent to 8.82 yuan.
The financial sector slid 1.94 percent in response to weak annual results.
Bank of China (BOC), China Construction Bank and China Merchants Bank slipped 2.31 percent, 1.87 percent, and 1.45 percent to 3.39 yuan, 4.2 yuan and 14.99 yuan, respectively.
BOC said Tuesday that its 2008 profit rose 14.42 percent to 64.36 billion yuan, but that gain fell short of market expectations.
(Xinhua News Agency March 25, 2009)
