BEIJING: China’s stocks tumbled for a second day as a decline in industrial profits added to concern the nation’s economic slowdown is deepening.
The Shanghai Composite Index retreated 2.4 percent to 3,971.54 at the midday break as all groups declined. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index sank 3.6 percent as Haitong Securities Co. and Citic Securities Co. plunged more than 6 percent. The gauge of Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong has lost 14 percent in the past month, the worst performance among 93 global benchmark indexes tracked by Bloomberg.
Industrial profits dropped 0.3 percent in June from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said Monday, after data Friday showed a private gauge of Chinese manufacturing unexpectedly fell in July to the lowest level in 15 months. Unprecedented government intervention in mainland equities following a $4 trillion rout has widened a valuation gap between dual-listed shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
“The soft industrial figure number is adding downward pressure,” said Gerry Alfonso, a sales trader at Shenwan Hongyuan Group Co. in Shanghai. “The brokerage sector underperformed the overall market with the current low trading volumes becoming perhaps the main driver of that poor performance.”
