BEIJING: China’s stocks declined for a fifth day, sending the benchmark index toward its greatest losing streak since October, after manufacturing gauges indicated contraction and China Minsheng Banking Corp.’s President Mao Xiaofeng resigned.
The Shanghai Composite Index slid 1.1 percent to 3,173.90 at 1:01 p.m. The gauge has fallen 6.2 percent over the past five days as the government stepped up scrutiny of margin lending, while the factory data add to concern the economy is weakening
China Minsheng slid 3.6 percent in Hong Kong after Caixin magazine reported that Mao is being investigated by authorities. China Railway Construction Corp. led declines for industrial shares and the yuan weakened after the government’s Purchasing Managers’ Index declined to 49.8 last month from 50.1 in December. Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. dropped to a one-month low after the company reported an annual loss. The nation’s benchmark money-market rates jumped for a fourth day after the securities regulator approved 24 initial public offerings.
“The weak PMI figure is putting some downward pressure on the market,” said Gerry Alfonso, a China equity sales and trading director at Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co. in Shanghai. “The recent developments on Minsheng bank are also adding pressure to bank-related stocks.”
The CSI 300 Index slid 0.8 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.4 percent and the Hang Seng Index dropped 0.3 percent. The Bloomberg China-US Equity Index, the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, retreated 1.6 percent in New York on Jan. 30.
