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Stocks sink 1.5%, lock-up expiries weigh

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-23 07:51

Chinese stocks sank 1.52 percent yesterday, weighed down by pending expiries this week of lock-up periods for shares in dozens of listed firms, while property shares dropped after a rumoured interest rate cut expected over the weekend failed to materialize.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 1,987.755 points, after rising 3.29 percent last week.

Losing Shanghai A shares outnumbered the gainer companies by 520 to 400.

Turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to 60.3 billion yuan from Friday's 72.8 billion yuan.

"The expiry of share lock-ups hits a peak this week and investors fear there will later be a massive sell-off," said Chen Jinren, analyst at Huatai Securities. He added that the main index may drop below 1,900 points in the next several days.

China Pacific Insurance Group, the country's third-largest insurer, sagged 5.09 percent to 11.74 yuan after saying around 1.58 billion of its shares would emerge from a lock-up period and become tradeable on Thursday.

Local media have reported that 15.33 billion shares in 70 firms will become freely tradeable this week due to the expiry of lock-up provisions linked to initial public offerings or reforms of companies' state shareholding structures.

"Under such pressure, sentiment is too weak to support a strong rise in the index," said Wu Nan, analyst at Xiangcai Securities.

Analysts' ranges for the index for the remainder of this year suggested it could move between 1,850 and 2,100.

Analysts noted disappointment that a widely rumored interest rate cut did not come over the weekend, although many believe a rate cut could still come before the end of this year.

Hong Kong shares fall

Hong Kong shares fell 3.3 percent on Monday in wafer-thin volumes, with declining stocks beating advancers two to one, as investors locked in gains on a two-week rally but Taiwan companies outperformed on the mainland's promise of help.

Index heavyweight China Mobile slid more than 5.5 percent after the world's largest wireless carrier reported a 4.5 percent drop in net additional subscribers in November, its lowest numbers this year.

Also piling pressure on the main index, HSBC slid 3.3 after S&P cut its outlook on the stock to negative.

"The rights issue announcement from DBS today has added to worries about fund-raising at HSBC and also dragged down some of the other locally listed banks," said Alex Wong, director at Ample Finance Group.

Agencies

(China Daily 12/23/2008 page15)