Mainland stocks fall on fears of new property curbs

Chinese mainland main Shanghai stock market fell on Wednesday, as anticipation of more measures to curb property prices hurt developer shares, and as the China-US trade war looked set to escalate with the threat of higher US tariffs.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 1.80 percent to end at 2,824.53 points.

Meanwhile, the blue-chip CSI300 index shed 2 percent to end at 3.447.39 points, with the real estate sub-index skidding 4.52 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index ended down 1.89 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 1.24 percent.

The drops were fueled by declines in the real estate sector on anticipation that authorities in Beijing would introduce more measures to curb the country’s red-hot property prices.

“For the short-term, the expectations of more measures to curb the country’s property market will definitely have a negative impact on the stock market,” said Chen Xiaopeng, analyst with Sealand Securities.

Bucking the trend, shares related to the Shanghai free trade port led the gains, with Shanghailisted logistics service operator Oriental International Enterprise, for instance, jumping by the daily limit of 10.04 percent.

The Trump administration plans to propose slapping a 25-percent tariff on $200 billion of imported Chinese goods after initially setting them at 10 percent, in a bid to pressure the Chinese government into making trade concessions, a source familiar with the plan said on Tuesday.

Fears of capital outflows amid a falling yuan would also add pressure on the stocks, Chen said. China’s yuan strengthened on Wednesday, then eased as traders weighed the impact of reports of Washington’s new tariff plans.

China’s manufacturing sector grew at its slowest pace in eight months in July as export orders declined.