Shanghai's hard currency B share index ended down 0.23 percent at 125.927 points while Shenzhen's fell 0.69 percent to 209.20. B shares are open to foreigners and Chinese.

BOE was the top gainer on the B share markets, closing up 3.81 percent at HK$5.18 (US$0.66), while its yuan-denominated A shares - available to Chinese and select foreign investors - increased by 10 percent to 12.55 yuan (US$1.5).

BOE said it had concluded a US$380 million purchase of the flat panel display unit of South Korea's Hynix Semiconductor.

"Profit-taking pressure is increasing after the benchmark Shanghai composite index broke through the key 1,500-point level on Wednesday," said analyst Zhang Qi at Haitong Securities.

"But hopes the government will support the stock markets are still high and the uptrend that began at the start of this year is likely to continue in the near term," he said.

Large capitalized stocks bore the brunt of selling, many of them having risen in the latest rally on the expectations of official support for the stock markets, brokers said.

Shares in China United Telecommunications Corp, the second largest company by market capitalization on the Chinese exchanges, led in volume and ended down 1.25 percent at 3.14 yuan (US$0.37), underperforming the indices.

The Shanghai composite index, grouping A and B shares, is still up 11 percent from the start of 2003, ending at 1,504.338 points yesterday.

It rose above the 1,500 mark on Wednesday, a level at which analysts said many investors could sell at a profit.

Until the latest rally, the composite index had fallen more than 40 per cent due to a slew of negative factors, from poor corporate earnings to frequent initial public offerings.

The Shenzhen market lost 19.14 to 3,043.89.

(China Daily February 14, 2003)