Agriculture keeps stocks down

China stocks edged down on Monday, mainly dragged by a slump in agricultural sectors.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.41 percent to close at 2,870.6 points. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index dropped 0.93 percent to 8,916.11 points and the blue chip CSI300 index ended 0.85 percent lower at 3,617.79 points.

Turnover on the two major bourses totalled 462.74 billion yuan (US$66.92 billion), compared with 573.72 billion yuan in the previous session.

Stocks related to the anti-tariff concept led the decline, according to Wind Information, among which shares of five relevant companies tumbled by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Agricultural shares such as Southwest Securities Co, Yuan Longping High-tech Agriculture Co and Shandong Denghai Seeds Co all took a nosedive by the maximum 10 percent.

Companies related to the pig industry posted sharp losses, with Dymatic Chemicals and Hunan New Wellfull Co both slumping by the 10 percent daily cap.

Google has suspended business with Huawei related to hardware, software and key technical services, which means Huawei can no longer license Google’s Android operating system and other services.

"Huawei will continue to provide security updates and after-sales services to all existing Huawei and Honor smartphone and tablet products, covering those that have been sold and that are still in stock globally,” Huawei responded. "We will continue to build a safe and sustainable software ecosystem, in order to provide the best experience for all users globally.”

Wind Information’s sub-index for stocks related to Huawei edged up by 0.71 percent on Monday, with Shenzhen Dvision Co and Fujian Start Group Co jumping by the maximum 10 percent while Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co lost 10 percent.

Stocks of ports, soft drink companies, airports and the precious metal sector were all among the decliners.

The rare-earth permanent magnet sector, however, posted robust gains, with shares of seven companies listed on the A-share markets surging by the limit of 10 percent.