BEIJING, April 20 -- Shanghai stocks continued their downward trend for the third consecutive day yesterday, ending the week with the benchmark index closing below 3,100 points.

    The Shanghai Composite Index lost 128 points to 3,094.67.

    Turnover in the local market retreated to 56.18 billion yuan (US$8.02 billion), compared to 63.89 billion yuan on Thursday. Losers outnumbered gainers 771 to 51 while 83 remained unchanged.

    For the whole week, the index lost 11.4 percent, the biggest weekly decline in more than a decade, and trading value totaled 304.91 billion yuan, as compared to 390.4 billion yuan a week earlier.

    "The panic selling was driven by collapsed confidence among investors and the downward trend is not likely to end soon until very positive measures are introduced by the central government," said Wang Antian, a Guohai Securities Co analyst.

    "Hopefully, PetroChina Co's fall below its November initial public offering price might help raise the concern of the industry watchdog."

An investor looks at the stock price monitor at a private security company in Shanghai, yesterday. The Shanghai Composite Index fell 4 percent, or 128 points, to 3,094.67. It was its lowest close since it ended at 3,074.29 on March 23, 2007 as the stocks continued their downward trend for a third day in succession.(Source: Shanghai Daily) Photo Gallery>>>

    PetroChina, the market's biggest component and the country's largest oil producer, dropped 5.04 percent to 16.02 yuan, falling below its IPO price of 16.70 yuan for the first time since it began trading in Shanghai on November 5. The stock hit its record high of 48.62 yuan on its first trading day.

    Power companies continued to slide due to their inability to adjust power price. Shanghai Electric Power lost 5.9 percent to 5.74 yuan, the lowest in more than a year.

    The company said in a statement filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange yesterday that it might lose around 120 million yuan in the first quarter of this year.

    Huaneng Power International, the listed arm of the country's largest power company, retreated 6.2 percent to 6.78 yuan.

    For the whole week, real estate companies led the decliners with a weekly drop of 25.27 percent, followed by water and power stocks which reduced 18.48 percent and metal shares which dived 17.14 percent, according to statistics from Huatai Securities Co statistics.

    (Source: Shanghai Daily)