Shanghai stocks down on Monday
Sluggish performances of financial heavyweights and the property sector lead to a retreat for Shanghai stocks.
Shanghai stocks retreated from earlier gains to close down on Monday following sluggish performance of financial heavyweights and property sector.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.01 percent to 3,083.41 points after climbing above 3,100 points thanks to gains in energy shares and metal producers in the morning session and turnover was 331.1 billion yuan (US$47.3 billion).
Property developers were generally sluggish with China Vanke Co lost 1.68 percent to 31.51 yuan and Shanghai Jielong Industry Group Corporation Limited was down 1.41 percent to 4.91 yuan.
Brokerages and insurers also lost steam amid fear of slower expansion in business activity. The Caixin China General Services Business Activity Index fell to 52.5 in December from 53.5 in November, though the services sector continued to pick up.
PetroChina Company Ltd jumped 4.71 percent to 6.23 yuan and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp went up 1.71 percent to 5.36 yuan.
Both SINOPEC Shandong Taishan Petroleum Co and Tong Petrotech Corp surged to the daily limit of 10 percent.
Gold producers surged after spot gold rose 1.7 percent to US$1,577.98 per ounce on Monday, the highest level in around six years, further extending last Friday's gains due to geopolitical tensions.
Shandong Gold Mining Co rose 9 percent to 37.91 yuan while other metal producers showed mixed results. Jiangxi Copper Co was down 1.05 percent to 16.99 yuan and Metallurgical Corporation Of China dipped 0.35 percent to 2.83 yuan. Spot palladium also hit an all-time high of US$2,020.18 an ounce.
Market watchers expect that the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission's guideline released on Friday — to encourage the conversion of household savings into long-term investment funds or pension schemes to diversify investment options — would boost capital inflow into the stock market.
China International Capital Corp said in a strategy report that external factors will have little impact on the performance of the domestic stock market in the next few months despite possible fluctuations after listed companies' weaker-than-expected earnings releases.
