China's shares inched down 0.04 percent on Thursday as investors trimmed holdings in big caps such as China United Telecommunications Corp Ltd amid persistent fears over Beijing's state-share reform. The benchmark Shanghai composite index closed at 1,020.632 points. "If nothing significant happens, the index will continue hovering around the 1,000-point level," said Qu Yongxiang, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities.
"Investors' confidence is really low." China Unicom, the smaller of the country's two cellular carriers, was among the most actively traded stocks of the day. It shed 0.7 percent to end the session at 2.68 yuan.
China Southern Airlines Co Ltd, the country's largest carrier by fleet size, dipped 0.4 percent to 2.63 yuan.
But Yangtze Electric Power Co Ltd, joint operator of the Three Gorges Dam, rose 2.7 percent to 8.74 yuan after presenting an improved plan to appease public shareholders worried about a flood of state shares into the market.
The corporation pledged to dole out fatter dividends every year till 2010, among other measures, as it pushes forward its effort to sell its government holings.
Yangtze is one of some four dozen firms pursuing a programme Beijing revived in April to convert over $200 billion worth of non-traded state shares in listed firms into free-floated stock.
The unpopular programme has helped drive the key index down nearly 20 percent so far this year, extending a 15 percent slump in 2004 that made it the world's worst-performing major index.
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