Daily Report | China stocks fall on concerns inflation may be gathering pace
China stocks fell on Monday as investors sold after data suggested inflation, at a 20-month high last month, may be quickening
China stocks fell on Monday on worries that inflation — which rose to a 20-month high last month — may be quickening.
The Shanghai Composite index rose above 3,000 in the morning session before retreating and closed at 2,957.82. That’s a 0.73 per cent fall, or 21.61 points. The blue-chip CSI 300 closed 088 per cent lower, or 28.09 points, at 3,169.73.
The Shenzhen Composite index dipped 0.56 per cent or 10.52 points, to 1,874.66 while the NASDAQ-style ChiNext Price Index slid 0.74 per cent, or 16.40 points, to close at 2,199.69.
Shares of property developers, brokerage firms and banks led the declines. The A-share of Citic Securities fell 2.40 per cent to 17.07 yuan, the lowest since March 18. Ping An Insurance Group shares decreased 1.87 per cent to a two-week low of 31.46 yuan.
Total turnover of the Shanghai and Shenzhen markets increased to 626.1 billion yuan, compared with 554.3 billion yuan last Friday.
The Hong Kong stock market is closed for Easter holidays and reopens on Tuesday. The blue-chip Hang Seng index ended 1.31 per cent lower at 20,345.61 last Thursday, a third consecutive lower close.
The pork price, a major composite of China’s consumer price index which measures inflation, reached 28.6 yuan per kilogram last week, up 35.2 per cent from a year earlier, according to Soozhu.com, a website that monitors domestic pork prices.