Stocks News
- Chinese share prices drop slightly
Date: 24-Sep-2007 Sources: (Xinhua Online)
BEIJING, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese share prices dropped slightly on Friday amid worries that the frequent initial public offerings may draw liquidity from the market.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 15.39 points or 0.28 percent to 5,454.67 points.
The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller market almost closed flat at 18,228.57 points, with a slight rise of 6.82 points or 0.04 percent.
The combined turnover on the two bourses reached around 233 billion yuan (31 billion US dollars), up from 218.2 billion yuan on previous trading day.
Heavyweight stocks appeared to be weak on Friday. China Life, China's largest life insurance company, dropped 0.89 yuan or 1.54 percent to stand at 56.95 yuan per share. Vanke A, China's largest listed property firm, fell 0.56 yuan or 1.84 percent to 29.9 yuan.
Most of the banks were down on Friday. The newly-listed Bank of Beijing slumped 4.44 percent to close at 23.48 yuan per share.
Imminent IPOs sparked fears of tighter liquidity. PetroChina, the country's largest oil producer, will issue up to four billion yuan-denominated A shares in its Shanghai IPO if approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission on Monday.
The oil giant may raise 50 billion yuan (6.7 billion U.S. dollars) based on the closing H share price of 12.38 HK dollars on Thursday.
The A share listing follows the China Construction Bank (CCB), the country's second biggest commercial lender, and China Shenhua, the country's largest coal producer, as the government encourages red chips to list on the mainland to absorb excess liquidity and help cool the heated stock markets.
The CCB raised 58.05 billion yuan with its sale of 9 billion A shares and China Shenhua is expected to raise around 70 billion yuan in its 1.8-billion-share listing, the largest A share sale ever. Shenhua will open to subscriptions on Monday and Tuesday.
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