Investors weigh new trading rules

Chinese mainland stocks ended higher on Wednesday, but the bulk of early gains were erased as investors sought to weigh the impact of new trading rules on bulk selling. The blue-chip CSI300 index closed up 0.4 percent, at 3,492.88 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent to 3,117.18 points. During May, the SSEC lost 1.2 percent, its third straight monthly loss, while the CSI300 gained 1.6 percent. Both main indexes jumped in early morning trade, as investors cheered government rules to restrict “intensive” and “viscous” selling by shareholders, but the initial euphoria quickly evaporated as investors contemplated the rules’ side effects. Regulators’ intention is to prevent massive selling of shares and to stabilize the market. soon start development activities in Band-e Karkheh oilfield,” said the head of the project, Alireza Zamani. He said it would be developed according to a discovery and development contract between the National Iranian Oil Co and OMV. The main Band-e Karkheh reservoirs are the Ilam and Sarvak formations. The Ilam layer is estimated to hold two billion barrels of oil crude while Sarvak holds 1.9 billion barrels. high of 1.3 billion euros ($1.45 billion). Ryanair said on Tuesday it carried 120 million passengers, up 13 percent on the previous 12 months. Revenue rose 2 percent to 6.7 billion euros, the airline said. The airline added that it filled 94 percent of the seats on its flights. Average fares fell by 13 percent to 41 euros, as it passed on savings due to falling fuel costs. The Dublin-headquartered airline said it had experienced “difficult trading conditions”, caused by a series of security events at European cities, a switch of charter capacity from North Africa, Turkey and Egypt to mainland Europe, and a sharp decline in sterling following the June 2016 Brexit vote.