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Chinese shares slump heavily
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-27 16:16

Chinese shares plummeted on Friday as investor sentiment was hurt by weak overseas markets and concerns about new share offerings.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index trimmed 153.42 points, or 5.29 percent, to close at 2,748.43 points. The Shenzhen Component Index dropped 563.45 points or 5.63 percent to 9,436.21.

Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to 97.2 billion yuan ($14.17 billion) from 108.6 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Oil caps were deeply hurt by the rising international crude oil price, said Wan Bing, a Guangdong-based GF Securities analyst. PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer and Sinopec, Asia's top oil refiner, plunged 3.47 percent to 15 yuan and 9.12 percent to 10.27 yuan respectively.

Securities shares fell on the news of Everbright Securities' coming initial public offering (IPO).

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the market watchdog, said late Thursday it would review IPO applications from the Everbright Securities and China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp on June 30.

According to the draft prospectus, the two companies are scheduled to raise about 20 billion yuan, which would further drain liquidity from the sluggish market, dealers said.

CITIC Securities, the country's largest listed brokerage firm, lost 8.33 percent to 24.55 yuan per share and Shanghai-based Haitong Securities was down 6.11 percent to 24.12 yuan.


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