17
SHANGHAI: China stocks fell
on Wednesday, weighed down by persistent economic concerns and worries over the outlook for trade ahead of lower-level talks between Washington and Beijing.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.6 per cent to 3,307.95 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.7 per cent at 2,714.61 points.
Trading activity was thin, with Shanghai stocks seeing the lowest trading volume in one and half years.
Most sectors retreated, led by infrastructure and utilities firms.
China's central bank
on Tuesday said it will not resort to strong stimulus to support the slowing economy but will keep liquidity reasonably ample and offer more help to companies which are having trouble obtaining financing.
Meetings expected to take place
on Wednesday and
Thursday in Washington are the first formal US-China trade talks since June, but US President Donald Trump said he did not expect much progress from the talks.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.15 per cent while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.64 per cent.
At
07:04 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.8435 per US dollar, 0.11 per cent firmer than previous close of 6.8513.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Aerosun Corp up 10.07 per cent, followed by Hainan Haiqi Transportation Group gaining 10.04 per cent and Delixi Xinjiang Transportation up by 10.02 per cent.
The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Gansu Gangtai Holding Group down 10.05 per cent, followed by Shanghai Jahwa United losing 9.99 per cent and Hylink Digital Solution down by 9.98 per cent.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is down 17.9 per cent, the CSI300 has fallen 17.9 per cent while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is down 7.3 per cent.
Shanghai stocks have declined 5.62 per cent this month.
About 9.37 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 68.5 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 13.68 billion shares a day.
The volume in the previous trading session was 11.36 billion.
As of
07:05 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 16.20 per cent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and below its 200-day moving average.
The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 11.87 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2.7 per cent.
So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has risen by 2.53 per cent to 29.06 trillion yuan.
