China: Stocks slide nearly 2% on profit taking

[SHANGHAI] China stocks fell on Wednesday, with a late afternoon bout of profit taking pushing major indexes deep into the red. "The fall today remained propelled by profit-taking after the gains in recent weeks," said Xiao Shijun, an analyst at Guodu Securities in Beijing. "With lots of reforms in the pipeline and official economy-boosting steps taken, the market will remain in a rebounding track in the medium term despite short-term volatility."

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 1.9 percent to 3,524.92 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.7 percent to 3,375.20.

Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 29.3 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 34.1 billion shares.

REUTERS