Chinese stocks were mixed on Tuesday as strength in non-ferrous metals and second-tier industrial stocks offset a weak property sector, which was hurt by news of fresh official measures to cool the property market.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose as much as 0.69 percent to a new all-time high in the morning and dipped as much as 1.50 percent in the afternoon before ending just 0.07 percent higher at 5,425.208 points. A total of 404 Shanghai shares rose while 438 fell. Turnover in Shanghai A shares was a moderate 166.4 billion yuan ($22.1 billion), little changed from Monday's 165.4 billion.
Some traders expect turnover to grow late this week, helping push stocks up, after money tied up by China Construction Bank's record IPO starts returning to the market on Wednesday.
"We can be sure the index will stay firm above 5,400 points for the short term, and breaking 5,500 before the October holiday should not be a problem - we've seen that money is too ample for the market to be hurt by the IPOs," said analyst Chen Jinren at Huatai Securities. Real estate shares slid after banking and regulatory sources told Reuters that authorities, in a fresh effort to curb real estate speculation, would soon raise downpayment requirements for people buying second homes as well as commercial property. Poly Real Estate Group sank 3.82 percent to 73.00 yuan.
Banks fell sharply during the day although most recovered to close little changed. Sector leader Industrial & Commercial Bank of China dropped as much as 2.60 percent before closing just 0.15 percent lower at 6.53 yuan.
Huaxia Bank tumbled 3.72 percent to 22.00 yuan after it issued a statement denying a local media report that it planned to swap shares with Bank of Beijing, which is based in the same city and has just completed its IPO.
But Bank of Beijing is expected to enjoy a strong listing in Shanghai on Wednesday, as three other firms list in Shenzhen. Traders think the bank's shares will jump to 20-25 yuan from the IPO price of 12.50 yuan. The IPO valued the bank at 36 times 2006 earnings, against about 50 for other domestic bank shares.