Shanghai's key stock index today suffered the biggest decline in a month as Citic Securities Co and China Merchants Bank Co led the plunge.

The Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares, closed at 3,443.16, down 4.48 percent, or 161 points, the lowest since April 23. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic stock exchange, was down 5.57 percent, or 62.36 points, to 1,057.88.

Citic Securities, China's biggest publicly traded brokerage, fell 6 percent to 34.30 yuan (US$4.90). Merchants Bank, the nation's biggest dual-currency credit-card issuer, lost 4.30 percent to 30.15 yuan.

On concern corporate losses will increase from the country's deadliest earthquake since 1976, Dongfang Electric and Sichuan Hongda, two companies in quake-hit Sichuan, both dropped the 10 percent daily limit.

China Eastern Airlines Corp and Shanghai Airlines Co jumped on speculation the two will merge.

The 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Sichuan on May 12 affected 14,207 industrial companies, the Ministry of Industry and Information said yesterday. These companies may have incurred combined losses of 67 billion yuan, almost 0.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product last year.

Sichuan Hongda, China's third-largest zinc producer, plunged to 32.68 yuan as it resumed trading today after a five-day halt. The company said the earthquake caused a loss of 387.7 million yuan, with 74 employees killed as of yesterday.

Dongfang Electric, China's second-biggest maker of power equipment, tumbled to 36.33 yuan, the second day the stock fell by the daily limit. It said on May 15 that the quake had ``seriously damaged'' plants that contributed about 20 percent of operating revenue in 2007.

Bank of China Ltd, the nation's third-largest bank, lost 2.85 percent to 4.78 yuan. The company said it had as much as 160 million yuan of losses from the quake as of May 18.

Xugong Science & Technology Co, the publicly traded unit of China's biggest maker of construction equipment, dropped the 10 percent daily limit to 16.47 yuan, ending a seven-day rally in which the stock climbed 39 percent. The stock had risen on expectations the earthquake will lead to increasing demand for construction equipment.

China Eastern, the nation's third-largest carrier by fleet size, jumped 6.26 percent to 10.69 yuan. Shanghai Airlines, the city's second-biggest carrier, surged 0.5 percent to 8.02 yuan.

China Eastern's Board Secretary Luo Zhuping said the carrier has no plans to merge with Shanghai Airlines. Xu Junming, Shanghai Airlines' board secretary, wasn't available for comment.

(Shanghai Daily May 20, 2008)