China shares fall as Beijing stands pat on benchmark lending rate

SHANGHAI: China shares fell on Tuesday as investors adopted risk-off mode after Beijing kept a benchmark lending rate unchanged despite growing expectations for a cut, while developer Evergrande slumped after local authorities halted some of its sales.

** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5% at 3,521.57 points.

** China's blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.51%, with its financial sector sub-index slipping 0.96%.

China stocks lower

** Policymakers kept the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) at 3.85%. The five-year LPR remained at 4.65%. The rate was unchanged for the 15th straight month, despite growing expectations for a cut after a surprise lowering of bank reserve requirements.

** The real-estate index dropped 1.73% as concerns around Hong Kong-listed China Evergrande Group dented risk sentiment.

** Sales in two Evergrande developments in a southern Chinese city have been halted by the authorities, government notices showed, adding pressure on the developer's cashflow that has raised concerns in the past few months.

** Evergrande's shares plunged 14.37% in Hong Kong, and bond and share prices of related companies also tumbled.

** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong fell 1.47% to 9,811.8, while the Hang Seng Index was down 1.19% at 27,163.88.

** The sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking property firms fell 1%, energy companies slumped 3.6%, and the IT sector fell 1.3%.

** The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.38%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.21%, and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR50 index was flat.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.95%, while Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.96%.

** The yuan was quoted at 6.4881 per US dollar, 0.04% firmer than the previous close of 6.4905.