Chinese stocks trade in negative territory

On Wednesday, China’s equities markets wiped off their gains recorded a day before and were trading in the negative territory, with consumption stocks leading the losses.

The Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.68 percent, or 46.24 points, to finish at 2704.34. Dragged by the weak performance of heavyweight stocks such as liquor, steel and banks, the A-share market opened lower on Wednesday, with the benchmark index fluctuating at a low level in the morning trade session and seeing an enlarged decline in midday action.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index edged down by 1.78 percent to 8402.51 points, while the Nasdaq-style ChiNext enterprise board was lower by 1.74 percent at 1430.24.

Sub-index of the household appliances industry posted a 1.47 percent of losses, with shares of Gree Electric Appliances Inc of Zhuhai, a leading air conditioning enterprise, falling by 3.22 percent to close at 37.61 yuan (US$5.49).

Capital Securities noted that due to expectations about the continued downward trend of the country’s economy and the tightened credit supply, China’s financial and cyclical sectors have kept their declines.

The broker added that as the regulators are easing the credit policy to encourage more money to the real economy, stocks of financial firms and cyclical industry will resonate with each other in the future.