An investor looks over information at a stock exchange at a stock trading hall in Shanghai, April 18, 2008.(Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, April 18 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares continued dropping on Friday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index diving nearly 4 percent to almost half of its highest level.

    The index, which covers both A and B shares, slumped 3.97 percent, or 128.07 points, to 3,094.67.

    It was 49.5 percent off from a record 6124.04 set in October and the lowest in more than a year.

    The Shenzhen Component Index closed down 3.13 percent, or 365.04 points lower at 11,292.04.

    Losers outnumbered gainers by 722 to 50 in Shanghai and 561 to 37 in Shenzhen. Aggregate turnover narrowed to 78.5 billion yuan (about 11.2 billion U.S. dollars) from 90.2 billion yuan on Thursday.

    Large caps led losses, with PetroChina, the most heavily weighted component of the Shanghai index, tumbling 5.04 percent to 16.02 yuan, breaking through its issue price of 16.7 yuan for the first time.

    PetroChina's plunge triggered panic selling and further dampened market sentiment which had been hit by Friday's reports of funds cutting stock holdings in the first quarter, said analysts.

    Five fund management companies released their first-quarter reports on Friday, showing they had reduced the proportion of stock investment in the total capital of their 25 stock-oriented funds by more than 7 percentage points on average.

    The market would continue to post a weak performance in the short term on feeble buying interest, said analyst Hong Yanhua at Chengdu Huiyang Investment Consulting.

    Meanwhile, observers said the market was on its way to the bottom and approaching a rebound.

    There would be limited room for correction in future, according to securities company Shenyin & Wanguo.

    Most blue-chips reported losses. Sinopec slumped 7.54 percent to 10.43 yuan and Bank of China shed 4.04 percent. Daqin Railway was down 9.97 percent, nearing the daily limit of 10 percent, to 13.81 yuan.

    China's largest lender, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, slid 0.69 percent to 5.75 yuan. Insurance giant China Life went down 2.73 percent to 27.03 yuan and Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) plummeted 5.67 percent to 18.98 yuan.

    Power firms tracked previous losses as concerns on their earnings lingered, with Huaneng Power International tumbling 6.22 percent to 6.78 yuan.

    The company warned on Thursday its first-quarter net profit was expected to be half of that in the same period last year, eroded by rising thermal coal prices.

China shares sink to lowest level in more than a year

    BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares fell 2.09 percent on Thursday amid investor caution, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 68.86 points to 3,222.7, the lowest level since March 30 last year.

    The decline took the index 47 percent below its record high in October.

    The Shenzhen Component Index dropped 400.19 points, or 3.32 percent, to 11,657.08.  Full story

China shares fall as growth, CPI data revive concerns

    BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares fell 1.69 percent in low turnover on Wednesday as investor confidence was dampened by a series of economic figures released late in the afternoon.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index shed 56.75 points to 3,291.6, while the Shenzhen Component Index dropped 333.52 points, or 2.69 percent, to 12,057.28.   Full story

China raises reserve requirement to curb liquidity, inflation

    BEIJING, April 16 (Xinhua) -- China's central bank on Wednesday ordered banks to set aside more money as reserve, the third such move this year, in the latest effort to curb excess liquidity and ease inflation.

    The reserve requirement ratio would be raised by 0.5 percentage points to a record high of 16 percent as of April 25, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement on its website.  Full story

"Hot money" inflows picked up in 1Q

    BEIJING, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Speculative fund inflows into China were accelerating as investors bet on a stronger yuan and rising domestic interest rates, and these flows were putting pressure on the money supply and prices, an analyst for a state think tank warned.

    The first-quarter speculative inflow exceeded 80 billion U.S. dollars, compared with 120 billion U.S. dollars for all of 2007, Zhu Baoliang, the chief economic analyst of the prediction department of the State Information Center (SIC), told an industry seminar on Sunday.  Full story