Shanghai market falls at midday as heavyweights drop

By Lydia Chen  |   2008-6-26  |     ONLINE EDITION

SHANGHAI'S key stock index erased some of yesterday's gains and fell in the morning session today as heavyweights such as Sinopec and PetroChina declined.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, lost 1.10 percent, or 31.99 points, to 2,873.02 at 11:30am.

Gainers in the Shanghai market outnumbered losers 445 to 327 while 18 were unchanged.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic stock exchange, was down 0.46 percent, or 3.90 points, to 835.80.

China Petroleum, known as Sinopec, the nation's biggest oil refiner, slumped 3.72 percent to 11.12 yuan (US$1.62) while PetroChina, the country's biggest oil producer and market heavyweight, lost 1.40 percent to 15.54 yuan.

Banks also dropped this morning.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's biggest lender, dipped 2.27 percent to 5.17 yuan. Bank of China decreased 2.05 percent to 4.30 yuan.

Steel makers suffered a wide sell-off in the early session.

Baoshan Iron & Steel Co, China's biggest steel maker, was down 3.13 percent to 9.29 yuan. Anshan Iron & Steel lost 1.43 percent to 14.49 yuan while Wuhan Iron & Steel slid 3.49 percent to 10.52 yuan.

Baosteel Group Co, which represents Chinese steel makers in annual iron ore price talks with global mining giants, early this week agreed to pay 144.66 US cents a dry metric ton unit for so-called Pilbara blend fines in the year that began April 1, up 80 percent from a year ago.

Elsewhere, Jinzhou Port Co, a port operator in northeastern China, sank 6.03 percent to 7.64 yuan after yesterday's 9.97 percent dive. The company said on Tuesday that it plans to sell 1.9 billion yuan of shares to PDA Corp, parent of Hong Kong-listed Dalian Port (PDA) Co.