Chinese stocks fell on Friday after the securities regulator said it would consider on Monday an IPO proposal by oil giant PetroChina, part of a string of offers designed to cool the market with supplies of fresh equity.
PetroChina's initial public offer in Shanghai could raise about 48 billion yuan ($6.4 billion), making it one of China's five biggest domestic IPOs, and is expected to take place in early October.
This week China Construction Bank raised 58 billion yuan in a Shanghai IPO, while Shenhua Energy is conducting an offer that could raise a record of over 70 billion. The Shanghai Composite Index set a new record intra-day high of 5,489.074 points in the morning but ended the day down 0.28 percent at 5,454.674. Losers outnumbered gainers 603 to 254.
Turnover in Shanghai A shares remained modest at 149.6 billion yuan ($19.9 billion) as money was allocated for Shenhua's IPO, which will take subscriptions on Monday and Tuesday.
The steel sector led Friday's falls as profit-taking from big gains in recent weeks continued. Baoshan Iron & Steel slid 3.19 percent to 18.22 yuan. Bank of Beijing, which had been strong since Wednesday's debut, tumbled 4.44 percent to 23.48 yuan.
Most banks fell, though heavily weighted Industrial & Commercial Bank of China limited the index's drop by rising 1.67 percent to 6.69 yuan, after saying it won approval from the banking regulator to launch a wholly owned financial leasing company.
Oil refiner Sinopec surged 3.92 percent to 18.31 yuan in active trade on hopes that PetroChina's listing would spur interest and valuations in the energy sector.
Telecom operator China Unicom rose 3.57 percent to 9.00 yuan, on hopes that China Mobile would soon be among the big firms approved to list in Shanghai, which could boost interest in the telecoms sector. China Eastern Airlines, which jumped its 10 percent limit on Thursday, climbed 4.78 percent to 22.81 yuan. Its New York-listed shares jumped 27.62 percent on Thursday.
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