Chinese shares closed down 0.33 percent on Tuesday amid concerns that securities regulators may quicken the pace of initial public offerings to soak up liquidity in the market, dealers said. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was down 8.98 points at 2,754.54 on turnover of 74.3 billion yuan (10.9 billion dollars).
Ten companies slated to list on ChiNext, China's soon to be launched Nasdaq-style board, said Tuesday they attracted a combined 784.1 billion yuan in bids for subscriptions. The securities regulator will allow second batch of nine additional companies to offer IPO subscriptions on October 13 for the upcoming ChiNext, according to filings with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
"The faster-than-expected launch of the ChiNext board and the money it has been attracting are making investors very nervous about the pressure the new board may create on the markets," Huatai Securities analyst Zhou Lin told Dow Jones Newswires.
Investors also preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of a week-long public holiday amid concerns global markets could tumble while China's are closed, traders said. Among the most actively traded companies were Citic Securities, which was down 1.1 percent at 24.41 yuan, Inner Mongolia Rare-Earth Hi-Tech, which fell 5.3 percent to 26.28 yuan, and China Cosco Holdings, which lost 2.5 percent to 11.94 yuan.
The Shanghai A-share index fell 9.31 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,890.56 on turnover of 74.1 billion yuan, while the Shenzhen A-share index lost 15.06 points, or 1.51 percent, to 983.56 on turnover of 43.0 billion yuan. The Shanghai B-share index shed 2.47 points, or 1.27 percent, at 192.57, while the Shenzhen B-share index lost 0.61 points, or 0.12 percent, to 497.03.