Mainland stocks fall on property investment curbs, liquidity worries

Major Chinese mainland indexes capped a fourth day in the red as lingering concerns over liquidity were heightened by curbs on property investment.

The blue- chip CSI 300 index fell 0.82 percent to 3,436.76 points.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.96 percent to 3,210.24 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.64 percent lower at 10,348.27 points.

Smaller caps led the decline, with the tech- heavy start- up board ChiNext sliding 1.84 percent to a five- week low.

Zhang Qi, an analyst at Haitong Securities, said liquidity worries kept investors sidelined.

China’s central bank skipped open market operations for a fifth day on Thursday.

The property market was another area of concern for investors, as an increasing number of cities joined a broad move by authorities to slap curbs on home purchases.

Moody’s Investors Service warned that the financial risks facing China from a potential property downturn had grown as record lending had made banks more risk- prone while the government was less able to combat those risks.

An index tracking real estate developers fell 1.1 percent.

Zhang also noted that recent sharp losses in newly listed stocks, usually overpriced because of speculation, also pressured the market.

In a steep correction, now in its third session, dozens of newly listed stocks tumbled by the daily trading limit of 10 percent.

Sectors were down across the board, led by material and infrastructure stocks.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index dropped 0.37 percent to 24,301.09 points.