Share prices on China's two bourses experienced technical corrections on Wednesday, concluding the daily trading slightly lower.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went down 29.94 points or 0.55 percent to 5,395.27 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller market fell 1.33 percent or 243 points to close at 18,073.34 points.

The combined turnover reached 228 billion yuan (US$30.4 billion), down from 262 billion yuan on previous trading day.

The decline in transaction volume was partly due to the fact that some investors set aside funds for upcoming large IPOs, market analysts said.

The debut of the Bank of Beijing pushed the index up at opening. The index dropped during the morning session, but went up as the property firms and petrochemical stocks started to rise.

The Bank of Beijing opened at 23 yuan, almost double its initial public offering (IPO) price of 12.5 yuan, and closed at 22.68 yuan.

But most other banks, generally believed to be overvalued, continued downward adjustments on Wednesday. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China dropped 0.05 yuan to 6.48 yuan per share. The Bank of China fell 0.06 yuan to close at 5.94 yuan per share.

Recent IPOs of big companies absorbed liquidity and possibly contributed to the market weakness, said analysts.

China Construction Bank (CCB), the country's second largest commercial bank, raised 58.05 billion yuan (US$7.7 billion) in its Shanghai initial public offering.

More than two trillion yuan frozen for purchase applications of CCB shares will be freed on Thursday, which may bring more capital into the stock market.

China Shenhua, the country's largest coal producer, began Wednesday to accept bids that will determine the price of shares in its IPO, which could raise 69 billion yuan (US$9.2 billion).

(Xinhua News Agency September 20, 2007)