China shares posted a fresh seven-month low yesterday, its second this week, venturing deeper into oversold territory amid prolonged bearish sentiment, brokers said.

The benchmark Shanghai composite index, grouping hard-currency B shares and yuan-denominated A shares, ended 0.56 per cent down at 1,441.664 points, the lowest finish since January 10. The index is now deep in oversold territory with a reading of less than 30 on the 14-day relative strength index.

Lianhua Fibre Co was Shanghai's top B-share decliner with a 4.82 per cent fall to US$0.375. The chemical fibre maker posted a net loss for 2002 and investors expect another poor showing when it unveils interim results August 28.

"Shaky investor confidence has led to a new round of panic sales of poor earners, pushing share prices down for the near term," said Wu Kan, an analyst at Shanghai Securities.

Chronic loss-making chicken breeder Shanghai Dajiang Group Co Ltd was yesterday's most active B share in Shanghai, down 3.1 per cent to US$0.28.

The index has shed 6.35 per cent since mid-July, hit by a rash of stock offers. Fears re-emerged yesterday over a possible scheme to allow locals to buy overseas stock that is likely to result in an outflow of liquidity, analysts said.

Investors worried that the so-called Qualified Domestic Institutional Investors (QDII) plan will become reality, a sporadic concern that has helped depress the Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks over the past year.

"The fragile market is vulnerable to any potential negative factors," Wu said.

Analysts now expect the market to remain weak throughout the rest of the week.

"The index is likely to experience a technical rebound next week but it will still move at low levels," said analyst Gui Haoming at Shenyin & Wanguo Securities.

The Shanghai B-share index slid 2.75 per cent to 98.294 points, while its Shenzhen counterpart closed down 1.42 per cent at 219.4.

On the foreign exchange market, China's yuan ended one notch weaker versus the US dollar at 8.2768, at the stronger end of its managed trading range.

The one-year non-deliverable dollar forward discount versus the yuan was traded at a high of 1,450 points and was bid at 1,450 at 0830 GMT. It closed at 1,450 on Tuesday, implying a price of 8.1330 per dollar in a year's time.

NDFs are a transaction where a forward price is agreed between a customer and a bank, but settlement on the value date is undertaken entirely in US dollars.

One-year implied yuan volatility was traded at 3.50/4.25 per cent yesterday.

Implied volatility is a measure of how much the options market expects the price of the underlying asset to move during the life of the option. Volatilities are often traded actively and independently.

The yuan moves in a band of 8.2760 to 8.2800 enforced by the central bank.

Turnover rose to US$500 million from US$440 million on Tuesday. The yuan weakened to 6.9840 against 100 Japanese yen from 6.9312, but firmed versus the euro to 9.1913 from 9.1960.

In commodity market, Shanghai copper futures extended their gains for a fifth straight session yesterday, rising roughly in line with the London Metal Exchange although trade on the Chinese market was slow, traders said.

The most active January copper contract gained 90 yuan (US$11) to 18,000 yuan (US$2,174) a ton, while other futures ended up 50 (US$6) yuan to 90 yuan (US$11). Combined volume dropped to a thin 41,478 lots to Tuesday's 57,446 lots.

"Shanghai copper has gained even more ground as the LME extended its technical rebound from earlier this week," said a Shanghai trader.

LME three-month copper rose US$12 to US$1,762 by Tuesday's close, traders said.

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