BEIJING: China’s stocks fell, paring a third weekly gain for the benchmark index, after Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. and PetroChina Co., the nation’s two biggest companies, reported profit declines.
PetroChina slid 2.3 percent after it said annual net income decreased 17 percent. ICBC led declines for lenders after posting its first quarterly decline in profit since 2009 as net income slipped 3.1 percent. XJ Electric Co. dropped 3 percent as industrial companies, this week’s best performers, fell the most among 10 groups.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 percent to 3,669.66 at 10:50 a.m., paring this week’s gain to 1.5 percent. Chinese industrial companies reported a 4.2 percent drop in profits for the first two months of the year. That adds to concern about whether China’s economy can meet this year’s target of 7 percent after last year’s growth of 7.4 percent missed the government forecast of 7.5 percent.
