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Shares decline 1.77% on swine flu fears

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-28 15:14

The mainland stocks slipped 1.77 percent to their lowest close in more than two weeks yesterday, hurt by worries about a possible global swine flu pandemic, with food makers, shipping, airlines, tourism and agriculture hit hard although pharmaceutical stocks soared.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended at 2405.348 points, with more than 20 Shanghai A shares sliding by their 10 percent daily limit.

Turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to a six-week low of 102.3 billion yuan from Friday's 108.4 billion yuan.

Analysts said news of the swine flu outbreak had increased uncertainty over the outlook for the economy and the stock market, while sentiment was also dampened by weak earnings reports.

"The index continues to consolidate. There is still uncertainty surrounding the flu situation but this surprising news has made investors jittery," said Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi.

He did not expect the index to fall substantially, however, adding that it may sink to 2300 points in coming days.

China Shipping Development slid 6.21 percent to 12.09 yuan while Air China lost 6.14 percent to 6.27 yuan.

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China United Travel dropped 10 percent to 4.75 yuan while Sichuan New Hope Agribusiness slipped 7.74 percent to 8.70 yuan.

Biomedicines maker Inner Mongolia Jinyu Group Co and China Animal Husbandry Industry Co, a maker of animal health products, raced up their 10 percent daily limit at the opening in what analysts described as a speculative, knee-jerk reaction to the flu news.

China Pacific Insurance Group Co, the country's third-biggest life insurer, lost 7 percent to 16.73 yuan after posting an 88.8 percent slump in first-quarter profit due to write-offs from equity investments.

HK market down

Hong Kong shares fell 2.7 percent to finish at a near three-week low yesterday.

Hong Kong seemed to take the flu news a little harder than other regional markets yesterday, given its past brush with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which sent the stock market down 10 percent between mid-February and late-April 2003.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended down 418.43 points at 14840.42. Turnover rose to HK$53 billion from Friday's HK$51.7 billion.

The China Enterprises Index of top mainland companies was 3.8 percent lower at 8641.43.

Reuters