BEIJING: China’s stocks fell, dragging the benchmark index to its longest weekly losing streak since May, on concern an economic slowdown is deepening and new share sales will draw capital from existing shares.
Huadian Power International Corp. tumbled to a two-month low in Shanghai as a gauge of utilities posted the biggest loss among 10 industry groups. Inner Mongolian Baotou Steel Union Co. paced declines by commodity producers. A property index slid 3.3 percent as Poly Real Estate Group Co. retreated. Great Wall Motor Co. rose 5.3 percent after monthly vehicle sales jumped 26.5 percent in January from a year earlier.
The Shanghai Composite Index slumped 1.9 percent to 3,075.91 at the 3 p.m. close. Its weekly loss came to 4.2 percent, after manufacturing and services gauges signaled a worsening outlook for the economy and as 24 companies prepared to sell shares in initial public offerings next week.
“The main concern is that next week’s IPOs will eat up too much liquidity,” said Wayne Fan, a Shanghai-based trader at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Ltd. “And we didn’t see much of a rally” following a reserve-ratio requirement cut.
Chinese stocks failed to sustain gains on Thursday following an across-the-board cut in banks’ reserve ratio. The reduction isn’t the start of strong stimulus for the economy, a senior official at the central bank told Xinhua News Agency.
The CSI 300 dropped 1.6 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Enterprises Index lost 0.9 percent at 3:16 p.m. local time, while the Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 percent. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index, the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, slipped 0.2 percent on Thursday.
