China shares edged lower in very thin trade on Wednesday as strong earnings from Merchants Bank Co, the second-biggest listed lender, failed to spark trading interest. The benchmark Shanghai composite index closed at 1,578.566 points, down 0.13 percent. Turnover in Shanghai A-shares was a four-month low of 11.4 billion yuan ($1.4 billion).
Merchants, the first domestically listed bank to report first-half earnings, gained only 0.27 percent to 7.56 yuan after posting a 31 percent jump in first-half net profit to 2.8 billion yuan, marginally above expectations.
"The earnings jump had already been factored into its shares," said Li Wenhui, analyst at Huatai Securities. Merchants had climbed 2.3 percent on Tuesday in anticipation of the earnings.
Minsheng Bank rallied 1.52 percent to 4.00 yuan after shareholders on Tuesday approved a plan for a private placement that could raise over $1.5 billion, and after the bank confirmed it would postpone a Hong Kong listing.
Also of concern was the fact that 523 million shares in Yangtze Power will become tradable next Tuesday as part of reform of the state shareholding system, along with over 1 billion shares in CITIC Securities.
The fresh supply has long been expected, and long-term investors holding the shares are not expected to dump them, but the available supply nevertheless could have a psychological impact on the market.
Yangtze Power declined 1.29 percent to close at 6.12 yuan, while CITIC tumbled 4.29 percent to close at 12.27 yuan, also hurt by the low market turnover that will dampen the brokerage's commission income.
Ethylene producer Shanghai Petrochemical fell 0.96 percent to 6.18 yuan after it said it would record a loss of 27 million yuan in the first half of 2006 due to high crude oil prices.
As fresh supply from a string of IPOs looms, many analysts still believe the market will test short-term support at the June low of 1,512 points in coming weeks, before it has a chance to form a base for any significant rally.
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