BEIJING: China’s stocks fell, capping the benchmark index’s biggest two-day slide in three months, as investors sold the best-performing equities to obtain funds for initial public offering shares.
Utilities and industrial shares, which posted the biggest gains in Shanghai in the past three months, led declines. Datang International Power Generation Co. and Huadian Power International Corp. slid at least 5 percent after jumping more than 30 percent since February. China Railway Group Ltd. and China Railway Construction Corp. lost more than 5 percent. The ChiNext small-company index hit a record before paring gains.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 1.6 percent to 4,229.27 at the close, adding to a 4.1 percent loss on Tuesday. Twenty-five companies are scheduled to sell new shares from Tuesday through May 11, which may freeze 2.34 trillion yuan ($376 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. IPO shares have jumped 44 percent on average on the first day of trading this year.
