China's shares slid 1.3 percent on Thursday after a sell-off emerged among tech and manufacturing counters, as uncertainty over the market's outlook intensified ahead of the annual Lunar New Year break. The Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges will be shut from February 7 to February 15 for the Spring Festival holiday. The benchmark Shanghai composite index slid to 1,225.891 points at the close just shy of its lowest levels in nearly six years.
That followed a 15 percent slide in 2004, when Beijing pursued credit curbs to cool a racing economy. Shanghai Auto and China Unicom led a general blue chip decline. They had outperformed the market in previous sessions, lifted by bargain hunting in large-cap stocks.
Shanghai Automotive Co Ltd, the country's top car maker that owns a fifth of General Motors' local auto plant, plummeted 7.3 percent to 5.10 yuan. And China United Telecommunications Corp, the smaller of the country's two wireless operators, slumped 2.8 percent to 3.12 yuan.