Shanghai B-shares Plunges

Shanghai B-shares fell by a sharp 3.97 percent Monday as investors grew jittery over the sharp falls on the Hong Kong market following the plunge in US stocks last week.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange's B-share index fell 1.7 points to end at 41.17 points as domestic investors piled into the market to sell off shares.

Although B-shares are nominally reserved for foreigners, many local investors trade these through regulatory loopholes, and the market often takes its cue from the movement of locally traded A-shares.

Shanghai's A-share stock index also slid today in a technical correction falling by 40.79 points, or 2.09 percent, to 1,910.30 points.

Shanghai's A-share index closed up at a record 1951.09 points on Friday on as positive economic data fuelled hopes for a recovery in the Chinese economy.

However, nervousness about global stock markets' performance finally rubbed off on Chinese investors Monday and sent B-share markets tumbling while A-share investors were sobered by the index's recent gains.

"B-share prices closed sharply down as investors grew jittery over the sharp falls on the Hong Kong market today following a plunge in the Dow Jones and tech-heavy Nasdaq index last week," a dealer at a foreign bank said.

B-share turnover on the day rose to 62.91 million yuan (US$ 7.6 million) from Friday's 47.40 million yuan.

The machinery and equipment manufacturer Shanghai Jintai Company Ltd. led the B-share gainers, rising 0.4 US cents to 15.4 cents on 66,000 shares traded.

Meanwhile, Hangzhou Eastern Communications Co. Ltd. saw the biggest decline, falling 6.4 cents to 77 cents, on 409,000 shares traded.

The composite A- and B-share index closed down 38.61 points, or 2.1 percent, at 1,795.05 points, while the SSE-30 index of selected A-shares fell 110.25 points, or 2.93 percent, to 3,655.37 points.

An analyst at Guo Tai JetA Securities said the negative impact of sharp falls on US markets was relatively muted, despite declines on Shanghai A-share prices.

A-share turnover rose to 18.48 billion yuan (US$ 2.23 billion) from the previous session's 17.08 billion yuan.



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