Money

China stock index futures close down - Oct 27

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-10-27 17:16

BEIJING - China's stocks fell for a second day to below 3,000 points Wednesday, as coal and non-ferrous metal shares retreated from recent gains.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.46 percent, or 44.49points, to close at 2,997.05.

The Shenzhen Component Index retreated 2.02 percent, or 277.79 points, to finish at 13,452.2.

Combined turnover shrank to 413.5 billion yuan ($62 billion) from 455.9 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Coal and non-ferrous metal shares led the decline, dropping 3.33 and 1.91 percent, respectively, on concerns that the recent gains in the resource sector were excessive.

The rebound in US dollar also dragged down resource shares, resulting in a drop in the prices of non-ferrous metal futures, said Wu Yiping, analyst at Haitong Securities.

China Shenhua Energy Co, China's biggest coal producer, tumbled 3.1 percent to 29.04 yuan. Shanghai Datun Energy Resource Co, Ltd plummeted 9.46 percent to 33.48 yuan.

Medical-related stocks bucked the trend as China's health authorities on Tuesday announced the country's first three cases of NDM-1, a multi-drug resistant super bacteria.

Jiangsu Lianhuan Pharmaceutical Co Ltd rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to 25.3 yuan.

Wei Guo, an analyst at Changjiang Securities, said the index was likely to move around the current level in the near term, and stocks of emerging industries, like clean energy, were expected to take the lead in the next rise.