By Li Zengxin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-02-13 17:10

China's stock market resumed trading today under capital dilution pressure from floating of non-tradable shares. On the first day after the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, the market was tested by the floating of 1.16 billion shares previously non-tradable. As a result, the major index lost another 2.37 percent.

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In this month and the next, a total of 16.22 billion non-tradable shares will become unfrozen. Today saw the largest single-day volume with 1.16 billion shares. Calculated on the closing prices on February 5, the last trading day before the holiday, these shares of 38 listed companies were worth 16 billion yuan.

Shanghai Composite Index

Source: sina.com.cn

Today, China Merchants Property Development had the largest number of unfrozen shares, with 30.9 million shares. Its shares closed at 61.33 yuan, 0.28 percent down from the previous close. In other words, the unfrozen shares from that company alone sopped up 1.9 billion yuan from the market. Shanghai Haixin Group ranked second in terms of the number of shares unfrozen today. Their shares dropped 0.9 percent to 11.07 yuan. Zhejiang Shenghua Biok Biology, with the smallest amount, closed at 11.52 yuan, up 0.17 percent.

As a result of capital dilution from the share floating, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped another 108.98 points to 4,490.72. Opening lower from 4,525.03, it went through the trading session below the previous closing level, hitting a daily high at 4,547.54 and a low to 4,454.64. Of the A shares listed in Shanghai, 297 moved up, 63 ended flat while 490 closed down. Transaction value reached 61.5 billion yuan, one third lower than February 5.

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