Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200806/20080630/article_365118.htm
Index dips over concern interest rates will rise
Created: 2008-6-30 15:49:40
Author:Lydia Chen
SHANGHAI'S key stock index slipped today as financial companies retreated due to concern interest rates will be increased for the first time this year.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.45 percent, or 12.33 points, to 2,736.10 at 3pm.
Gainers in the Shanghai market outnumbered losers 443 to 316 while 14 were unchanged.
The index dropped nearly 5.3 percent on Friday.
The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic stock exchange, was down 0.34 percent, or 2.73 points, to close at 793.13 today.
China Merchants Bank Co and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co led declines. Aerospace-related shares increased and were led by Xi'an Aircraft International Corp on a report its parent company will start sales of a commuter plane next year.
Merchants Bank, China's most profitable lender, declined 4.91 percent to 23.42 yuan (US$3.41). Pudong Bank, part-owned by Citigroup Inc, declined 4.31 percent to 22 yuan, its lowest close since May 23, 2007.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, the country's biggest oil refiner, lost 1.17 percent to 10.15 yuan after Friday's 9.12 percent fall. PetroChina, the nation's largest oil producer and the biggest stock by market capitalization, fell 0.40 percent to 14.94 yuan.
PetroChina Co may import record volumes of oil products this year and will extend a halt in exports to increase domestic supplies of gasoline and diesel, parent China National Petroleum Corp said on Friday.
Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, the country's largest steel maker, retreated 2.46 percent to 8.71 yuan. Baoshan Iron, the parent of Baoshan Iron & Steel, aims to raise sales to more than US$50 billion and profit to more than US$5 billion by 2012, the company said on Saturday.
Wuhan Iron & Steel Group, China's fifth-biggest steel maker, was also among falling steel makers today. It buckled 1.31 percent to 9.76 yuan. The company received US$169 million in loans from an overseas banking group to purchase iron ore, Shanghai Securities News reported today.
On the positive side, Xi'an Aircraft climbed 6.37 percent to 17.02 yuan. Its parent company, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group Co, is planning a September test flight for its turboprop. Sales of the 60-seat plane will start next year, Xinhua news agency reported, citing President Lin Zuoming.
Hafei Aviation Industry Co, which makes helicopter and aircraft parts, added 2.97 percent to 15.24 yuan.
Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co, a real-estate developer based in Shanghai, rose 10 percent to 13.61 yuan, after a report that Walt Disney Co will build a 40 billion yuan theme park in Shanghai's Pudong area.
Shanghai's key index has fallen more than 48 percent this year on concern official measures to control inflation will hurt earnings growth. The central bank has ordered lenders to set aside a record amount of money in reserve after raising interest rates six times last year.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said yesterday that he can't rule out raising interest rates to curb inflation in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
"It's always possible, we don't exclude any possibility,'' Zhou told reporters yesterday in Basel, Switzerland, where he's attending a meeting of the Bank for International Settlements.
Cuts by the US Federal Reserve have complicated China's monetary policy, Zhou said previously. They make China more attractive as a destination for money when its economy is already flooded with cash.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.45 percent, or 12.33 points, to 2,736.10 at 3pm.
Gainers in the Shanghai market outnumbered losers 443 to 316 while 14 were unchanged.
The index dropped nearly 5.3 percent on Friday.
The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic stock exchange, was down 0.34 percent, or 2.73 points, to close at 793.13 today.
China Merchants Bank Co and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co led declines. Aerospace-related shares increased and were led by Xi'an Aircraft International Corp on a report its parent company will start sales of a commuter plane next year.
Merchants Bank, China's most profitable lender, declined 4.91 percent to 23.42 yuan (US$3.41). Pudong Bank, part-owned by Citigroup Inc, declined 4.31 percent to 22 yuan, its lowest close since May 23, 2007.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec, the country's biggest oil refiner, lost 1.17 percent to 10.15 yuan after Friday's 9.12 percent fall. PetroChina, the nation's largest oil producer and the biggest stock by market capitalization, fell 0.40 percent to 14.94 yuan.
PetroChina Co may import record volumes of oil products this year and will extend a halt in exports to increase domestic supplies of gasoline and diesel, parent China National Petroleum Corp said on Friday.
Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, the country's largest steel maker, retreated 2.46 percent to 8.71 yuan. Baoshan Iron, the parent of Baoshan Iron & Steel, aims to raise sales to more than US$50 billion and profit to more than US$5 billion by 2012, the company said on Saturday.
Wuhan Iron & Steel Group, China's fifth-biggest steel maker, was also among falling steel makers today. It buckled 1.31 percent to 9.76 yuan. The company received US$169 million in loans from an overseas banking group to purchase iron ore, Shanghai Securities News reported today.
On the positive side, Xi'an Aircraft climbed 6.37 percent to 17.02 yuan. Its parent company, Xi'an Aircraft Industry Group Co, is planning a September test flight for its turboprop. Sales of the 60-seat plane will start next year, Xinhua news agency reported, citing President Lin Zuoming.
Hafei Aviation Industry Co, which makes helicopter and aircraft parts, added 2.97 percent to 15.24 yuan.
Shanghai Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone Development Co, a real-estate developer based in Shanghai, rose 10 percent to 13.61 yuan, after a report that Walt Disney Co will build a 40 billion yuan theme park in Shanghai's Pudong area.
Shanghai's key index has fallen more than 48 percent this year on concern official measures to control inflation will hurt earnings growth. The central bank has ordered lenders to set aside a record amount of money in reserve after raising interest rates six times last year.
Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, said yesterday that he can't rule out raising interest rates to curb inflation in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
"It's always possible, we don't exclude any possibility,'' Zhou told reporters yesterday in Basel, Switzerland, where he's attending a meeting of the Bank for International Settlements.
Cuts by the US Federal Reserve have complicated China's monetary policy, Zhou said previously. They make China more attractive as a destination for money when its economy is already flooded with cash.
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