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Shares drop 2.21% despite favorable CPI release

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-06-12 16:55

Chinese shares continued to move downward on Thursday, with the benchmark index slumping 2.21 percent to below 3,000 points, although the official figure reported dropping inflation.

China's benchmark Shanghai Composite Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange closed at 2,957.53 points, down 66.71 points, or 2.21 percent, from the previous close.

The National Bureau of Statistics released the May figure of China's consumer price index (CPI), the main gauge of inflation on Thursday, which was 7.7 percent up from the same period last year.

It marked the first significant drop of the inflation indicator since last year, compared with the 8.5-percent CPI figure in April and a 12-year high of 8.7 percent in February.

But as the drop largely fell within market expectation and would not change the overall tightening policy, it did not much stimulate the market, said analysts.

The Shenzhen Component Index on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange closed at 10,340.14 points, down 117.94 points, or 1.13 percent, from the previous close.

The weakness continued the trend starting from Chinese shares' biggest single-day plunge in more than one year on Tuesday, when the Shanghai Composite Index dived 7.73 percent to end at 3,072.33 points after the central bank announced its decision to tune up the reserve requirement ratio to 17.5 percent.