Thursday, July 26, 2012

"China’s Stocks Decline to Lowest Level Since March 2009"

A developing story, links below.
From Bloomberg:
China’s stocks fell to the lowest level since March 2009 as speculation the government will maintain real-estate curbs overshadowed a State Council plan to develop the nation’s central provinces.

China Vanke Co. (000002) and Poly Real Estate Group Co. paced declines among developers after the official Xinhua News Agency said China must prevent local governments from weakening real- estate controls. Hunan Valin Steel Co. (000932), part-owned by the world’s biggest mill ArcelorMittal, surged to a one-month high as the China News Service said Hunan province’s Changsha city unveiled an 829.2 billion yuan ($130 billion) investment plan.

“Market sentiment is pretty weak and it will take a while for investors to reverse their pessimistic expectations about the economy,” said Wang Weijun, a strategist at Zheshang Securities Co. in Shanghai. “We’ll probably see more stimulus packages from the government going forward.”

The Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) dropped 0.5 percent to 2,126 at the close, erasing a 0.5 percent gain. The CSI 300 Index (SHSZ300) lost 0.5 percent to 2,347.49. The Bloomberg China-US 55 Index (CH55BN), the measure of the most-traded U.S.-listed Chinese companies, retreated 0.3 percent in New York yesterday.

The Shanghai index has fallen 14 percent from this year’s high on March 2 amid concern the economic slowdown is deepening. The gauge is valued at 9.5 times estimated profit, compared with the average of 17.5 since Bloomberg began compiling the data in 2006....MORE
Previously
June 23 
Is China's Shanghai Index Approaching the Waterfall Decline?
June 28 
Shanghai Stock Exchange Index Continues Decline, Now Down for 2012
July 9 
"Shanghai Composite Breaks Another Support"

Chart for上證綜合指數 (000001.SS)