China: Stocks fall in longest weekly losing streak since May

[SHANGHAI] China's stocks fell, dragging the benchmark index to its longest weekly losing streak since May, on concern an economic slowdown is deepening and new share sales will draw capital from existing shares.

Huadian Power International tumbled to a two-month low in Shanghai as a gauge of utilities posted the biggest loss among 10 industry groups. Inner Mongolian Baotou Steel Union paced declines by commodity producers. A property index slid 3.3 per cent as Poly Real Estate Group retreated. Great Wall Motor Co. rose 5.3 per cent after monthly vehicle sales jumped 26.5 per cent in January from a year earlier.

The Shanghai Composite Index slumped 1.9 per cent to 3,075.91 at the 3 pm close. Its weekly loss came to 4.2 per cent, after manufacturing and services gauges signaled a worsening outlook for the economy and as 24 companies prepared to sell shares in initial public offerings next week.

"The main concern is that next week's IPOs will eat up too much liquidity," said Wayne Fan, a Shanghai-based trader at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities. "And we didn't see much of a rally" following a reserve-ratio requirement cut.

Chinese stocks failed to sustain gains on Thursday following an across-the-board cut in banks' reserve ratio. The reduction isn't the start of strong stimulus for the economy, a senior official at the central bank told Xinhua News Agency.

The CSI 300 dropped 1.6 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Enterprises Index lost 0.9 per cent at 3:16 pm local time, while the Hang Seng Index fell 0.3 per cent. The Bloomberg China- US Equity Index, the measure of the most-traded US-listed Chinese companies, slipped 0.2 per cent on Thursday.

BLOOMBERG