China stocks extended falls on Thursday, as investors booked profits from this year's strong rally in blue chips. At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 21.96 points or 0.67 percent at 3,272.01 points.
The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 1.11 percent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 1.09 percent , the consumer staples sector down 1.87 percent, the real estate index down 0.78 percent and healthcare sub-index down 0.7 percent . The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.6 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.41 percent.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.10 percent while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 1.45 percent. At 07:03 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.6146 per US dollar, 0 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.6145.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Gansu Ronghua Industry Group Co Ltd up 10.02 percent, followed by NINGBO BIRD Co Ltd gaining 7.89 percent and SJEC Corp up by 6.64 percent. The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Sichuan Langsha Holding Ltd down 10 percent, followed by Baotailong New Materials Co Ltd losing 7.43 percent and Zhejiang ChiMin Pharmaceutical Co Ltd down by 7.28 percent.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 6.13 percent, while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 18.8 percent. Shanghai stocks have declined 0.7 percent this month. About 13.21 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 74.1 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 17.82 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 15.16 billion.
As of 07:04 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 33.89 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average.
The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 14.8 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2 percent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has fallen by -0.28 percent to 28.71 trillion yuan.
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