Shanghai shares end lower after hitting record high
China’s stock market posted mixed results Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.07 percent to close at 3,449.38 after hitting a new high in intraday trading.
A-shares opened slightly higher after US stocks advanced overnight. In early trading, the Shanghai Composite Index hit a record high of 3,465 as the pro-cyclicals such as finance, real estate and coal strengthened.
The smaller Shenzhen Component Index edged up 0.22 percent to finish at 13,961.58, while the ChiNext Index lost 0.57 percent to end its trading day at 2,682.97.
Combined turnover on the two bourses came to 880.9 billion yuan (US$134.3 billion), compared to 864.9-billion yuan in the previous session.
However, in the afternoon, the brokerage and banking sectors weakened and fell, and more than half of all sectors recorded losses, with automakers, textile and nonferrous metals firms taking some of the biggest hits.
Most Asia-Pacific banks will probably see a reduction in rating downgrade risks in 2021 as gathering economic recoveries support revenue prospects, says Fitch Ratings.
Nevertheless, asset quality will continue to deteriorate in many markets, putting pressure on profitability, the rating agency added.
Global wealth manager UBS predicts the price of gold will rise in the first quarter of next year but may reach peak shortly afterward, suggesting investors are diversifying their holdings into the precious metal as well as G10-national and emerging-market currencies to cope with the risk of a declining US dollar.
