Stocks decline on tariff woes

Stocks slumped on Friday after US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on an additional US$300 billion of Chinese goods.

The Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.41 percent to 2,867.84 points. 

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index also closed 1.42 percent lower at 9,136.46 points, while the blue chip CSI300 index took a nosedive by 1.47 percent to 3,747.44 points.

Turnover on the two major bourses of Shanghai and Shenzhen totalled 454.9 billion yuan (US$65.57 billion), expanding largely from 373.99 billion yuan in the previous session.

Trump  tweeted that the US will impose a 10 percent tariff on US$300 billion of Chinese goods starting September 1. Shortly afterwards US stocks took a nosedive and US oil prices plunged to post the steepest single-day decline since February 2015.

The Wind Information’s sub-index for the non-bank financial sector dropped sharply by 2.4 percent. Hainan Haide Industry Co fell sharply by 7.5 percent, and Luxin Venture Capital Group Co shed 5.75 percent.

Communication shares were also among the biggest decliners, with Sichuan Huiyuan Optical Communications Co losing 6.92 percent and Yealink Network Technology Corporation down 5.77 percent.

Electronic component firms, the petroleum and petrochemical sector and the national defence and military industry all posted drops.

In comparison, all  25 companies listed on the newly-launched STAR Market posted strong gains, with Raytheon Technology Co surging by the daily maximum of 20 percent.

For the week, the Shanghai Composite Index retreated from an earlier rally, posting a weekly drop of 2.6 percent reversing the 0.7-percent rise last week. The turnover added up to 870.36 billion yuan, compared with the 865.36 billion yuan in the previous week.