Chinese shares opened slightly down on January 8, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, down 1.76 percent to 1,890.24 at the opening.

The smaller Shenzhen index was down 1.87 percent to open at 6,600.04 points.

On Wednesday, a warning from tech giant Intel about poor business conditions and more evidence of rising unemployment left US stocks with their biggest losses in a month.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2009)