The investors are watching stock
information in Chongqing, West China. Chinese shares
extended their losses on Monday as the benchmark index slumped to a
21-month low, dragged down by the country's oil giants and concerns of
slower economic growth.(Xinhua Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
BEIJING, Sept 8 (Xinhua)-- Chinese shares extended their
losses on Monday as the benchmark index slumped to a 21-month low, dragged down
by the country's oil giants and concerns of slower economic growth.
The two bourses started the day with active trading
on Monday morning, buoyed by gains in regional markets and boosted by Sunday's
news that the U.S. government would take over troubled mortgage giants Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac to stabilize the financial market.
Shares were also boosted by the China's securities
regulator's decision to allow shareholders of listed companies to issue
exchangeable bonds to ease share oversupply after the lock-up periods.
But heavy selling of shares of the country's two oil
giants soon ignored the impact of the government measures and caused the
benchmark index to plummet.
PetroChina shed 4.86 percent to 11.36 yuan (1.62
U.S.dollars), the lowest on record. Sinopec, the country's biggest crude
refiner,tumbled 7.59 percent to 9.13 yuan.
Financial shares settled with a tempered pace of
increase as China Construction Bank edged up 1.42 percent to 5 yuan, and Bank of
China jumped 1.15 percent to 3.52 yuan.
Investors shrugged off the government's plans to
boost the market soon, indicating how weak the market was, said an analyst with
the Shanghai-based Xinlande Securities.
Market declines would continue in the short time
against the backdrop of slower economic growth in China, according to Shenyin
Wanguo Securities.
China will release its August inflation data on
Wednesday. Consumer Price Index (CPI) growth is forecast to ease to about 5
percent from a year earlier after a slew of government measures to cope with a
12-year high of CPI in February.
In addition, manufacturing contracted for a second
month in August, underscoring the risk of a slump in the world's fourth biggest
economy.
Export growth, which contributed to a big chunk of
the gross domestic product growth, began to slow with faltering demand from the
United States and European countries.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished 59.03
points or2.68 percent lower at 2,143.42. The Shenzhen Component Index slid
260.20 points, or 3.58 percent, to 6,980.92.
Losses outnumbered gains by 786-87 in Shanghai and
703-34 in Shenzhen.
Chinese vice Premier Wang Qishan
delivers a keynote speech at the 12th China International Fair for
Investment and Trade (CIFIT), opened in Xiamen, a coastal city in
southwest China's Fujian Province, Sept. 8, 2008. (Xinhua/Wei Peiquan)
Photo
Gallery>>>
XIAMEN, Sept. 8 (Xinhua)-- China announced it would
provide more opportunity for foreign investment, Vice Premier Wang Qishan said
on Monday at the opening of the 12th Xiamen International Trade and Investment
Fair in the southeast Fujian Province.
China will insist on its opening-up policy continuing
to perfect the policies for the utilization of foreign capital to provide more
spaces for overseas enterprises in the country. Full story
