Share prices in Shanghai fell yesterday following the central bank's decision to step up the probe into banking loans.
The shanghai Composite Index, which tracks both yuan-denominated Class-A shares and hard-currency Class-B shares, dropped 1.21 percent to 1497.05.
Trading value totaled 6.39 billion yuan (US$770 million), down from 7.82 billion yuan on Thursday.
The A-share Index shed 1.22 percent to 1567.45.
"Investors are still concerned about the tight money policy, which could mean that the market may suffer a shortage of funds," said Wei Wei, analyst at West China Securities Co Ltd.
"The composite index would likely test as low as 1470 points in the coming days," she added.
Over the past week, local-currency share prices dropped by more than 2 percent, hurt by the recent suggestion to tighten lending after several questionable loans made to local magnates were exposed.
Among the decliners, Beijing Gehua CATV Co Ltd fell 3.77 percent to 20.67 yuan and Shanghai Oriental Pearl Co Ltd lost 2.34 percent at 20.45 yuan.
The shanghai B-share Index also finished lower, closing at 113.15, a decrease of 0.74 percent.
(Shanghai Daily June 28, 2003)
