SHANGHAI’S key stock index fell for the first time in three trading days as developers sank after a central bank report showed that planned home purchases are the weakest on record and another report said export orders fell to the lowest since 2005.
The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 1.56 percent, or 34.90 points, to 2,201.51 points.
Losers outnumbered gainers 763 to 63.
The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks the smaller domestic market, lost 5.51 percent, or 34.08 points, to close at 584.26 points.
China Vanke Co, the nation's largest publicly traded developer, declined 7.56 percent to 5.50 yuan (81 US cents). Poly Real Estate Group Co, the second-biggest Chinese developer by market value, fell 5.28 percent to 13.28 yuan. Gemdale Corp, based in Shenzhen, dropped the daily cap of 10 percent to 5.39 yuan.
Chinese households shunned the property market last quarter, with buying interest the lowest since the People’s Bank of China quarterly surveys started in 1999, the central bank said yesterday on its Website.
Of 20,000 urban households surveyed in August, 13.3 percent said they intended to buy a house in the next three months, the central bank said.
Buying intentions in first-tier cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Tianjin and Guangzhou were even lower than the national average, sitting at less than 10 percent, the central bank said.
The market also shed due to a plunge among dairy producers and airlines over the ongoing melamine-tainted milk powder scandal and rebounding global oil prices.
Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co, which sold contaminated milk products, plunged 9.97 percent to 9.93 yuan as Goldman, Sachs & Co advised selling the stock. Shanghao-based Bright Dairy Co also plunged the daily cap of 10 percent to close at 4.03 yuan.
But Beijing-based Sanyuan Food Co, another dairy giant, surged the daily cap of 10 percent to 4.62 yuan.
China Southern Airlines Co, the nation's largest airline by fleet size, fell 5.29 percent to 3.58 yuan. Air China Ltd, the largest by market value, slid 4.44 percent to 5.59 yuan. China Eastern Airlines Corp, the third largest, sank 7.66 percent to 4.10 yuan.
Jet fuel rose 2.9 percent, the biggest gain in more than two weeks, to US$120.55 a barrel in Singapore yesterday. Jet fuel is the single-biggest expense for Chinese carriers.
On the positive side, gold producers rallied today as the price of the metal rose in world markets.
Shandong Gold Mining Co, China's third-largest bullion producer, climbed 10 percent to 37.14 yuan, increasing the daily limit for a third-straight day. Beijing-based Zhongjin Gold Corp also jumped 10 percent to close at 35.17 yuan.
Gold gained 1.2 percent to US$907.52 an ounce in Singapore, as investors sought the precious metal as a haven from the turmoil in financial markets.