Chinese stocks seesawed up and down on Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, a major index of Chinese shares, fluctuating between 2192.90 points and 2097.42 points, the widest spread this year.

 

The index which tracks both yuan-denominated A shares and hard-currency B shares traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, closed at 2,156.60 points on Wednesday, down 16.68 points from the previous close, with a total turnover of 64 billion yuan (US$8 billion).

 

Chinese shares opened slightly higher in the morning as the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index opened up 2.09 points.

 

The index dropped by 63.39 points to close the morning session at 2,109.90 points, or 2.92 percent lower.

 

The Shenzhen Component Index was down 231.03 points, or 3.9 percent lower, closing the morning session at 5,697.00 points. It closed the trading day at 5838.50 points, down 89.52 points from the previous trading day, or 1.51 percent lower.

 

A total of 326 stocks closed higher while 1,035 stocks slumped on the two Chinese mainland stock markets.

 

Stocks of telecommunication sector stocks rose sharply, while stocks in the financial and real estate sectors, which had been a main driving force of the stock market, tumbled after some profit-taking by some investors.

 

Analysts were divided over the short-term market prospects. The big fluctuations indicate the major indices had approached all-time highs, said Chen Jian, analyst with the United Securities Co. Ltd.

 

But an unidentified analyst with the Shenyin and Wanguo Securities Co. Ltd. believes stock prices would continue to rise in the medium term and the Shanghai Composite Index would soon hit a record high of 2245 points.

 

(Xinhua News Agency December 7, 2006)