Chinese shares were little changed on Tuesday, a day after the benchmark index closed at its highest level in over five years, as investors took profits in the property and finance sectors.
The benchmark Shanghai composite index inched down 0.03 percent to close at 1,784.862 points. It had touched a high of 1,793.141 in early afternoon trade, its highest intra-day level since late September 2001.
Turnover in Shanghai A-shares was an unusually active 31 billion yuan ($3.9 billion), versus 28.4 billion yuan on Monday, when trading resumed after a one-week holiday.
News on Sunday that Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China's biggest lender, plans to raise as much as $19 billion in what would be the world's largest share sale, helped to boost the market.
"There is hope that the market will continue to rise, and there are some positive effects from ICBC's IPO later this month," said Li Wenhui, analyst with Huatai Securities. But the market had run out of incentives for a further rise after the index breached at least two technical resistance levels on Monday, analysts said. Investors are likely to become cautious when facing 1,800 points, they added.
The market shrugged off North Korea's announcement on Monday that it had conducted a nuclear test, Huatai's Li noted.
"This deal with North Korea should not have an overall impact on China's stock market," he said. Li predicted the index would hover above the earlier technical resistance of 1,757 points this month, and expected the psychological resistance of 1,800 to be breached around ICBC's listing date. Sinopec Corp, Asia's largest refiner, slid 21.06 percent to 5.36 yuan after it resumed trading on Tuesday, following a suspension from September 15. Trading volume in Sinopec was 276 million shares on Tuesday, nearly three times the amount of its previous trading day.
Shanghai-based Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone lost 1.26 percent to 7.84 yuan, while China Vanke, the country's largest listed property developer, fell 3.24 percent to 7.16 yuan.
China Merchants Bank Co dropped 1.35 percent to 10.25 yuan after hitting a record high of 10.48 yuan in the previous session. China's biggest stock broker, CITIC Securities dropped 1.82 percent to 15.13 yuan after the firm said it planned to increase its stake in China Asset Management Co to nearly 61 percent from 40.725 percent.
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