Chinese shares opened lower Monday after the country's securities regulator chief hit out at big-stake acquisitions with borrowed money, meanwhile the launch of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect buoyed market sentiment.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipped 1.23 percent to open at 3,203.78 points.
The smaller Shenzhen Component index opened 1.25 percent lower at 10,776.12 points.
The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, was down 0.66 percent to open at 2,129.25 points.
On Saturday, Liu Shiyu, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, slammed the practice of leveraged stake acquisitions, calling the practice "barbaric."
Any attempt to acquire a majority stake in a listed firm using funds from questionable sources is crossing the line, Liu said.
His criticism is seen as partly alluding to recent high-profile A-shares acquisitions.
Shares involved in the round of acquisitions suffered the most on Monday.
Major indices recovered mildly after the opening, encouraged by the new stock link which allows investors of Shenzhen and Hong Kong to buy and sell shares on each other's bourses.
Analysts expect the move to improve connectivity between the two capital markets and facilitate the internationalization of Chinese financial sector.
Latest comments