China stocks down for 6th day on trade war fears

SHANGHAI: China stocks ended lower on Wednesday posting their sixth straight session of losses, amid persistent worries of an escalation in the Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

** The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.4%, to 3,621.43, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.3% to 2,768.68.

** The two major indexes were down for six sessions in a row.

** U.S. President Donald Trump dismissed fears of a protracted trade war with China on Tuesday despite a warning from Beijing that labelling it a currency manipulator would have severe consequences for the global financial order.

** China's central bank said on Tuesday Washington's currency move would "severely damage international financial order and cause chaos in financial markets," while preventing a global economic recovery.

** China's exports probably fell for a second successive month, while imports likely contracted more sharply in July, a Reuters poll showed, hurt by tit-for-tat tariffs in a rapidly escalating trade war between the world's two biggest economies.

** For the medium term, it's an indisputable fact that the market has turned weak, while the overall environment is not upbeat, according to a Kaiyuan Securities report.

** For the first time this year, the benchmark Shanghai index on Tuesday fell below the 250-day simple moving average, widely seen as a key level separating bull and bear markets, the report added.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index  was barely changed , while Japan's Nikkei index  closed down 0.33%.

** At 07:13 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 7.0431 per U.S. dollar, 0.26% weaker than the previous close of 7.025.

** The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Jiangsu Etern Co Ltd, up 10.14%, followed by Datang HuaYin Electric Power Co Ltd , gaining 10.1% and Pengxin International Mining Co Ltd, up by 10.06%.

** The biggest percentage losers in the Shanghai index were CTS International Logistics Corp Ltd down 10%, followed by Shanghai Lingang Holdings Co Ltd losing 10% and Shanghai Shine-Link International Logistics Co Ltd  down by 9.99%.

** About 15.77 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 94.7% of the market's 30-day moving average of 16.65 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 23.11 billion.

** As of 07:14 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.29% over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.