Chinese shares plunged on Thursday and slipped below the 2,800-point mark, the heaviest daily loss in February.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged 6.41 percent to close at 2,741.25 points while the smaller Shenzhen index dived 7.34 percent to end the day at 9,551.08 points. The ChiNext Index, the NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, was the most battered with a loss of 7.56 percent at 2,037.14 points. Total turnover on the two bourses continued to increase, standing at 666.5 billion yuan (102.04 billion U.S. dollars), compared with the 580.5 billion yuan on Wednesday.
Losses were swept across all sectors, with around 1,400 stocks dropping by the daily limit of 10 percent and less than 50 stocks finished in positive territory at close. The sub-indices related to ship-building, aviation and construction were the top losers on Thursday, all seeing declines over 9 percent.
The oil sector, which led the rally on Wednesday, under overwhelming pressure lost heavily by 7.97 percent. The property sector also lost steam after a remarkable start to this week, with a plunge of 8.02 percent. The shares opened cautiously lower in the morning in the wake of Wednesday's remarkable rally, and plunged by over 3 percent near midday break.
The market was rattled following a steep drop shortly after the lunch break, leading the shares to fall below 6 percent in the afternoon session. The small-caps extended their decline from Wednesday and dragged down the broader indices to a deeper quagmire as market sentiment was turning tensed amid heavy losses across the board.
The short-lived attempts of the banking sector to climb up during the afternoon session were soon depressed, making it one of the sectors with the least loss. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the nation's largest bank, saw a mild decline of 0.99 percent to close at 4.01 yuan.
The over 6-percent decline on Thursday ranked the heaviest daily loss in February, following the rocky start of the year.
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