Off the wire
• Xi urges artists, writers to be confident in Chinese culture  • Hong Kong stocks close 0.23 pct higher  • Foreign exchange rates in Hong Kong  • S.Korean president appoints independent counsel for probe into her own scandal  • More than half a million Chinese now living with HIV/AIDS  • China Hushen 300 index futures close lower Wednesday  • Interview: China can build moderately prosperous society by 2020 -- Russian expert  • China treasury bond futures close lower Wednesday  • Duterte says Maute Group forces him to fight, with 61 bandits killed  • Spotlight: Trump picks "dream team" players, outlines policies  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: China's key stock indices down Wednesday

Xinhua, November 30, 2016 Adjust font size:

Chinese stocks closed lower on Wednesday, ending a four-day winning streak, partly due to fears of tight liquidity.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 1 percent at 3,250.03 points. The smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.2 percent lower at 11,012.19 points.

The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.05 percent to close at 2,183.05 points.

Analysts said moves by the central bank to defend a weaker yuan were sucking funds from the banking system, pushing up domestic borrowing costs.

The benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), a measure of the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, and a key barometer of liquidity, rose for the 15th straight day.

On Wednesday's interbank market, Shibor edged up 1.4 basis points to 2.316 percent. The Shibor for seven-day loans increased 1.5 basis points to 2.496 percent, a new high in 15 months. The Shibor for three-month loans rose 1.86 basis points to 3.0358 percent.

Turnover on the two bourses shrank to 563.5 billion yuan (around 81.8 billion U.S. dollars), down sharply from the previous trading day.

Non-ferrous metals led the declines. Jiangxi Copper Co., a copper producer, fell 4.7 percent to close at 19.11 yuan. Huludao Zinc Industry Co. retreated 4.71 percent to end at 6.27 yuan.

Textile machinery shares performed strongly. Geron Co. jumped 6.94 percent to finish at 64.9 yuan. Endi