China stocks extend slide, pulled down by energy shares

[SHANGHAI] China stocks fell on Wednesday on concerns about tighter liquidity, a fresh slide in oil prices and worries that Chinese regulators were intensifying scrutiny of insider trading.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen fell 49.6081 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 3,525.32, while the Shanghai Composite Index which tracks all the tickers trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange lost 46.4248 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 3,305.74.

Securities regulators have commenced reviewing every instance of a share sale in which a designated company insider managed to sell at the top of a price spike, the official China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday.

The energy sub-index slumped 1.9 per cent, the real estate index fell 1.6 per cent and financials and banks were both down 1.4 per cent.

The largest percentage gainer on the Shanghai exchange on Wednesday was Changzheng Engineering, which rose 44 per cent, while the largest percentage decliner was Guanghe Landscape Culture Communication, down 7.2 per cent.

Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank Of China , down 1.94 per cent to 4.54 yuan; China Shipbuilding , down 3.07 per cent to 9.16 yuan and CITIC Securities , up 2.96 per cent to 28.88 yuan.

In Shenzhen, Shenwan Hongyuan, down 3.2 per cent to 17.17 yuan, Suning Commerce Group, down 1.7 per cent to 10.39 yuan and TCL Corp, down 2 per cent to 3.89 yuan, were among the most actively traded.

REUTERS