BEIJING: China’s stocks fell for the first time in four days, led by financial and energy companies, amid concern the economic slowdown is deepening and new share offerings will divert funds from existing equities.
Bank of China Ltd. and China Life Insurance Co. slid at least 2 percent to send a gauge of financial shares to the biggest loss among industry groups. Poly Real Estate Group Co. led losses for developers with a 3 percent slump. PetroChina Co. tumbled 2.5 percent. The government may set a growth target of around 7 percent for this year, the Xinhua News Agency reported. That’s below 2014’s target and will likely be announced at the start of the National People’s Congress on Thursday.
The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.9 percent to 3,305.45 at the 11:30 a.m. break, the biggest loss since Feb. 6. It rose 0.8 percent on Monday for a three-day gain of 3.3 percent, spurred by the second cut in interest rates since November.
