Stocks edge down on back of mixed macro figures

An investor reads a?book in front of an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in?Nanjing, East China's?Jiangsu province, March 9, 2016.[Photo/IC]

Stocks fell on Thursday, despite the latest data showing a better-than-expected increase in last month's consumer prices.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 2 percent to 2,804.73 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index slumped 1.4 percent to 9,390.35.

Miners and brokerages led the decline. Hainan Mining Co and Shandong Jinlin Mining Co tumbled 9.4 and 7.4 percent respectively. Shanghai Prosolar Resources Development lost 6 percent. Huatai Securities, Orient Securities and Everbright Securities edged down more than 4 percent.

China's consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, rose 2.3 percent in February from one year earlier, up from January's 1.8 percent and marking a 19-month high, announced the National Bureau on Thursday.

HSBC analyst Qu Hongbin attributed the higher-than-expected CPI growth largely to high food inflation.

Two days earlier, trade figures showed exports in dollar-denominated terms were more than 25 percent lower year-on-year, worsening from a 11.2-percent decline in January and even weaker than a market consensus of 14.5 percent decline. Imports dropped 13.8 percent.

The CSI 300 Index, a gauge tracking some of the largest-cap stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen, closed down 1.9 percent to 3,013.15.