China shares ease on 2007's last trading day

Chinese shares ended the 2007 trading year lower on Friday on both domestic and international market concerns.

After gaining 2,586.09 points since the last trading day of 2006, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.89 percent, or 47.3 points, to close at 5,261.56 points.

Heavyweights slumped. PetroChina, the largest-cap stock on the Chinese market, dropped 1.37 percent to 30.96 yuan (about 4.25 U.S. dollars).

Tourism and hotel stocks rose on expectations that the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays, which fall in early February, would bring benefits.

Analysts attributed part of Friday's declines to weakness in the international markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 192 points, or 1.4 percent, to 13,359.61 on Thursday as investors reacted nervously to Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's death. Japan's key Nikkei Index and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong dropped 1.65 percent and 1.43 percent, respectively.

The Hushen 300 Index, which accounts for 60 percent of the Chinese stock market's value, dropped 0.55 percent, to 5,338.27 points.

The combined turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses dropped to about 190 billion yuan from Thursday's 200 billion yuan.

The benchmark index almost doubled in 2007, peaking at a record high of 6,124 points on Oct. 16, after which it slumped and then fluctuated around 5,300 for most of the rest of the year.

Chinese investors' psychology seesawed with the market for much of the year, but analysts said that domestic share investors were becoming more accustomed to market fluctuations. Their growing sophistication meant the market was unlikely to experience such dramatic movements in 2008, said Liu Fenghua, fund manager with Galaxy Asset Management Co., Ltd..

The number of stock accounts increased 37.79 million to 112.59 million by Dec. 26, of which 112.1 million were held by individuals, according to statistics from the China Securities Depository and Clearing Co., Ltd..

Institutions became a major stabilizing factor in the market over the past year and now hold up to 46 percent of total market capitalization.

Most analysts believed that China's bull market would continue in 2008 but the opportunities for speculative profit would be more limited. And with the government expected to persist with its tightening policies, investors were expected to become more selective.

Many investors would look to stocks related to consumer goods, since both macro policies and rising consumption would support those sectors in 2008, said Avelyn Yang, deputy head of investment management with China International Fund Management Co., Ltd..