Commonwealth Bank of Australia cuts stake in China Telecom

Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the second largest bank in Australia, has cut its shareholding in China Telecom<728> to 6.69% from 7.03% on Dec. 3, according to the bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEx)<388>.

HKEx Friday said in a statement that the Australian lender has sold 47.50 million H-shares in China Telecom for HK$141million. The average price of the share transaction was HK$2.964 apiece.

Reportedly, China Telecom, which acquired the CDMA business from China Unicom<600050><762> in October amid a government-initiated industrial restructuring, expected to gain a bigger share in the country's mobile telecoms market.

H-shares of China Telecom plunged 6.67% to close at HK$2.80 on Friday.