Stocks fall due to weak market sentiment

Shanghai stocks fell on Tuesday after data showed industrial profit growth has slowed.

The Shanghai Composite index edged down 0.04 percent to close at 2,574.68 points.

Shares of logistics firms, shipping companies and banks were among the biggest decliners.

For the first 10 months of this year, profits of China’s industrial enterprises rose 13.6 percent, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics.

Industrial profits rose 3.6 percent in October from a year earlier to 548 billion yuan (US$78.87 billion), slowing from September’s 4.1 percent gain, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed.

“Based on the situation of October, the slowing industrial profit growth is affected by slower growth in industrial product prices as well as a high comparative base last year,” said He Ping, an official from the bureau.

Japanese investment bank Nomura said in a note that it expects the downtrend in industrial profit growth to continue in the months ahead given weakening domestic demand, already-high financing costs and rising credit defaults.

Chongqing Fuling Electric Power Industrial Co fell 5.12 percent to 16.86 yuan and Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park Development Co declined 2.96 percent to 16.38 yuan.