Key Shanghai index closes under 2000 for 2nd day

Chinese stocks continued to decline on Wednesday amid weak investor sentiment, with the key Shanghai stock index closing below 2,000 points for the second trading day. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.89 percent to end at 1,973.52, after finishing below 2,000 points for the first time on Tuesday since early 2009. The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 7,854.06, down 1.04 percent, or 82.68 points. Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to 67.7 billion yuan (10.76 billion U.S. dollars) from 78 billion yuan the previous trading day. A majority of shares suffered losses during the day, with losers outnumbering gainers by 840 to 118 in Shanghai and by 1,337 to 174 in Shenzhen. The ChiNext Index, which reflects the performances of high-tech and high-growth potential companies, slid 1.4 percent to 607.67 points, a record-low since it started trading in 2009. Ceramic producers dropped the most, with Shanghai CIMIC holdings Co. dipping 5.31 percent to close at 4.81 yuan per share. Shares of non-ferrous metals companies extended losses Wednesday. Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-earth (Group) Hi-tech Co. moved down 5.38 percent to end at 30.27 yuan, while state-owned Aluminum Corporation of China declined 2.14 percent to 4.57 yuan. Property heavyweights also fell across the board. China Vanke Co., the nation's biggest listed property developer, dropped 1.42 percent to end at 8.34 yuan. Poly Real Estate Group Co., the nation's second-largest listed developer, fell 3.51 percent to 11.01 yuan. Jiugui Liquor shares tumbled by the daily trading limit of 10 percent for a fourth consecutive trading day to finish at 31.22 yuan. The company recently became the focus of a scandal after tests confirmed that some of its products contained excessive plasticizer content.