Shares fall for third day, driven by airlines, oil refiners

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-31 19:14

BEIJING - Chinese shares continued to drop for the third consecutive day on Thursday, led by airlines and oil refiners as an overnight rebound in world crude oil prices renewed concerns that rising fuel costs would squeeze their earnings.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.15 percent or 60.95 points, finishing at 2,775.72 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 9,470.33 points, down 2.53 percent, or 245.46 points.

Combined turnover totaled 68.3 billion yuan (about US$10 billion), shrinking from 77 billion yuan over the previous trading day.

The investors' confidence remained weak as the country's securities regulators failed to come up with detailed market-boost measures, an Everbright Securities analyst said.

Shang Fulin, chairman of China Securities Regulatory Commission, said on Wednesday that the commission would go all out to maintain a steady market, without elaborating how.

Airline shares fell across the board. Air China shares fell 5.48 percent to 10.01 yuan. China Southern Airlines fell 5.17 percent to 7.89 yuan and China Eastern Airlines dropped 4.33 percent to 7.73 yuan.

Sinopec, Asia's top oil refiner, lost 5.25 percent to 11.20 yuan. PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, suspended trading as a shareholder meeting was held to decide on the issuance of 60 billion yuan of corporate bonds domestically.

Investors also worried that the upcoming trading of previously locked-up shares would create a glut, a TX Investment Consulting Co. analyst said.

Last month, 24.4 billion of previously locked-up shares would start trading on the two bourses, with a total capitalization of over 280 billion yuan, the third largest this year.