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Wary investors send Chinese shares 0.8% lower at mid-day

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-25 14:17

Chinese shares lost further ground in morning trading Wednesday after falling 4.56 percent Tuesday, as weak investor confidence overcame an overnight Wall Street rebound, dealers said.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.8 percent, or 17.57 points, to 2,183.08, while the Shenzhen index slid 2.21 percent, or 185.53 points, to 8,217.49.

Related readings:  Chinese shares tumble 4.56% on Wall Street woes  Trading in SDB shares suspended  Small insurers to be allowed to invest directly in stocks

Losses outnumbered gains by 544 to 299 in Shanghai and 418 to 317 in Shenzhen.

Major gains were posted by agriculture, timber and information technology shares. Declines were led by properties and financial issues.

Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB) tumbled 4.07 percent to 14.38 yuan ($2.1), after having denied media reports Tuesday night that its largest shareholder, Newbridge Capital, was in talks with China Development Bank (CDB) to sell its stake in SDB.

Shares of SDB surged by the daily limit of 10 percent to 14.99 yuan Monday on market talk that the state-run CDB would purchase a stake in SDB. Newbridge bought a 17.9 percent stake in SDB in 2004.

SDB shares were suspended Tuesday.

China Merchants Bank, the country's sixth-largest commercial lender, eased 1.16 percent to 13.64 yuan. Just under 4.8 billion non-tradable shares in the bank are to be unlocked for trading as of Monday.