Chinese stocks fell in a busy session on Monday, with consumer and property companies suffering the biggest losses, driven by economic data and doubts over a report suggesting China may make it easier to refinance mortgages.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed down 1.1 percent at 2,811.04 points.
The CSI300 index of major Chinese companies closed down 1.7%, while the property index fell 4.1%. The consumer staples sector fell 3.1% and the food and beverage index fell 3.5%.
China’s Hong Kong-listed H shares closed down 1.9 percent at 6,211.61, while the Hang Seng Index fell 1.7 percent to 17,691.97.
A private survey showed new home prices in China barely rose in August, while developers China Vanke and Hong Kong’s New World Development reported losses.
Shares in New World Development suffered the biggest drop on the Hang Seng, falling 13 percent to a two-decade low after the company estimated a net loss of up to HK$20 billion ($2.6 billion) for the year ended June 30.
Shares in China Vanke fell 5 percent after the state-backed property giant reported a core loss of 7.6 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in the first half on Friday, underscoring the depth of the unrest in the sector.
Analysts also assessed the impact of a possible easing of mortgage refinancing rules, Bloomberg News reported Friday.
“Refinancing with different banks is unlikely to be allowed,” said Nomura economist Ting Lu, although he still expects mortgage rate cuts that could save borrowers about 100 billion yuan ($14 billion) a year in repayments.
The top three H-share losers were bottled water seller Nongfu Spring, which fell 5.5 percent, China Resources Land, which fell 5.4 percent, and China Overseas Land & Investment, which fell 4.7 percent.
The Caixin/S&P global manufacturing PMI index returned to growth in August, data showed on Monday. However, a survey of the largest companies on Saturday showed activity contracted for a fourth month.
In the region, the MSCI index of Asian shares ex-Japan lost 0.33 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.14 percent.
About 34.07 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, about 123 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average. About 3.08 billion shares of the Hang Seng Index were traded, about 128 percent of the market’s 30-day moving average.
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