Chinese equities fell 3.39 percent on Monday on concern about what would be shown by a range of February economic data due for release starting on Tuesday, analysts said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 3.39 percent, or 74.26 points, to 2,118.75. The Shenzhen Component Index was down 3.67 percent, or 303.09 points, to 7,946.8.

The Shanghai index gained 16.4 percent this year on the belief that the government's economic stimulus plans would blunt the impact of the global downturn.

The combined turnover was 158.1 billion yuan (US$23.1 billion), slightly down from 159.88 billion yuan on Friday.

Losses led gains by 777 to 99 in Shanghai and 651 to 99 in Shenzhen.

Investors were jittery ahead of the release of the February economic data, a Guotai Jun'an Securities analyst said, and they were also disappointed that no new economic stimulus measures were announced during the two national sessions.

Among the indicators scheduled for release this week are the producer and consumer price indices (Tuesday), fixed-asset investment (Wednesday) and retail sales (Thursday).

All sectors fell Monday, led by cement and non-ferrous metals, which dropped 6.43 percent and 6.27 percent, respectively.

Banking shares declined. Bank of China tumbled 5.03 percent to 3.4 yuan. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 2.63 percent to 3.7 yuan. China Merchants Bank slid 4.94 percent to 15 yuan.

The Poly Real Estate Group edged up 0.39 percent to 20.47 yuan after saying February property sales nearly tripled in area compared with a year earlier. However, domestic rival Vanke, the largest real estate developer by market capitalization, dropped 2.35 percent to 7.89 yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2009)