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An investor looks over information at a
stock exchange at a stock trading hall in Hefei, east China's Anhui
Province, April 14, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)
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BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- China's benchmark stock
index plunged 5.62 percent on Monday, the biggest one-day loss since late
January, as sell-offs on Wall Street and regional markets further undermined
investor confidence.
As virtually every share declined, the Shanghai
Composite Index fell 196.22 points to 3,296.67. The index has now fallen 46
percent from its record high in mid-October.
The Shenzhen Component Index plummeted 984.50 points,
or 7.39 percent, to 12,343.61, the biggest loss since June 4.
The plunge came amid expectations that China's
government would stick with its tightening policies, said Hong Yanhua, an
analyst at Huiyang Investment.
Analysts said that panic selling pushed shares lower
across the board, with losses outnumbering gains by 825 to 24 in Shanghai and by
640 to 32 in Shenzhen. Aggregate turnover was 99.6 billion yuan (about 14.2
billion U.S. dollars), compared with 91.5 billion yuan on Friday.
China still faced high inflationary pressures, Liu
Shiyu, vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC, the central bank),
said on Saturday in Shanghai.
Liu cited preliminary PBOC statistics that indicated
the consumer price index (CPI) hit 8 percent for the first quarter, although it
eased to 8.3 percent in March from a 12-year-high of 8.7 percent in February.
The National Bureau of Statistics is set to release
the official CPI figure and other economic data on Wednesday afternoon.
China's trade surplus for the first quarter shrank
10.8 percent as export growth slowed in response to the stronger yuan and
weakening overseas demand, the General Administration of Customs said on Friday.
Slower export growth, combined with higher labor and
raw materials costs, would squeeze corporate profits and slow economic growth,
said Zhang Yansheng, head of the International Economic Research Institute.
The institute is part of the National Development and
Reform Commission.
Losses on other markets also further weakened
investor sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.04 percent to
12,325.42on Friday amid rising concern about a U.S. recession.
On Monday, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index dropped 3.05
percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 3.47 percent.
The market would continue to fall in the short term,
according to Shenyin Wanguo.
Oil and petrochemicals, metals and property shares
were the largest losers, falling more than 8 percent on average.
PetroChina, the most heavily weighted stock in the
index, fell 3.32 percent to 16.91 yuan, which was 65 percent off the record high
of 48.62 yuan on its Nov. 5 debut in Shanghai.
China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) plunged
7.04 percent to 10.82 yuan.
More than 20 property shares, including leading
companies such as China Vanke, Gemdale Corp. and China Merchants Property
Development Co., fell by the 10 percent daily limit on market talk that there
would be new measures to cool the sector.
Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) tumbled 9.37 percent
to 20.70 yuan. Jiangxi Copper retreated 8.57 percent to 29.53 yuan.
Shanghai Pudong Development Bank slid 7.52 percent to
32.20 yuan, even though it estimated that net profit had soared more than 180
percent in the first quarter from a year earlier.
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation's
biggest lender, fell 5.22 percent to 5.81 yuan. China Construction Bank slumped
5.72 percent to 6.92 yuan and Bank of China lost 3.76 percent to 4.86 yuan.
(7.01 yuan equals 1 U.S. dollar)
Central bank says March CPI to hit 8.3%
BEIJING, April. 14 -- China's March consumer price index rose an estimated 8.3 percent, with first-quarter inflation of about 8 percent, the deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, Liu Shiyu, said in Shanghai over the weekend.
Liu, who disclosed the figures in a speech delivered at the fourth Network of East Asian Think-Tanks Conference on Financial Cooperation, noted that China's high inflation is a main challenge in this year's macro-economic agenda. Full story
