Resources, industrials trigger marginal decline in equities

SHANGHAI－Stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell on Monday to break an 11-session winning streak, with gains in banking and real estate firms offset by falls in resources and industrial shares, as investors took in profits after a recent bull run.

China's bank lending halved in December 2017 as the government kept up its campaign to curb financial system risks, but banks still managed to dole out a record amount for the year amid the tighter scrutiny.

At close, the Shanghai Composite Index was down 18.45 points or 0.54 percent, at 3,410.49 points.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 1.3 percent and the startup board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 2.97 percent, according to a Reuters report.

China's Hushen 300 Index futures closed on a mixed note on Monday, with the contract for January 2018 closing flat at 4,225.24 points. The February 2018 contract lost 0.01 percent to close at 4,224.00 points. The March 2018 contract was down 0.04 percent to finish at 4,226.00 points, said the report.

The stock-index contracts－agreements to buy or sell the Hushen 300 Index at a preset value on an agreed date－are designed to allow investors to bet on and profit from either gains or declines in the market.

The index futures market was launched at the China Financial Futures Exchange and started trading on April 16, 2010. The CFFEX has set the base value for all the contracts at 3,399 points, according to Reuters.

The largest percentage gainers on the main Shanghai Composite Index were Harbin Air Conditioning Co Ltd, up 10.05 percent, followed by Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, gaining 10 percent, and Tederic Machinery Co Ltd, up by 9.98 percent. The largest percentage losses on the Shanghai index were Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co Ltd, down 10.07 percent, followed by Hang Xiao Steel Structure Co Ltd, dropping 10.03 percent, and Avic Shenyang Aircraft Co Ltd, down by 9.99 percent.

According to Reuters, so far this year, the Shanghai Composite Index is up 3.68 percent, the CSI300 is up 4.8 percent, and the mainland's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 6.5 percent. About 23.20 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, roughly 146.2 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 15.87 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 17.41 billion.

Bloomberg