China Market falls on profit taking

The Mainland China share market finished session lower on Friday, 24 December 2021, as profit booking triggered amid fears over the coronavirus variant after the city of Xian in northwest China's Shaanxi province with some 13mn residents went into a lockdown on Thursday following the detection of 234 Covid-19 cases since December 9.

All residents have been ordered to stay indoors, communities have been put under closed management, and outgoing transport including trains and flights have been cancelled, health authorities said as the city started the third round of nucleic acid testing for all residents.

However, market losses capped amid hopes that China to implement proactive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy with a loosening bias next year.

At close of trade, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.69%, or 25.29 points, to 3,618.05. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, fell 1.3%, or 32.78 points, to 2,491.96. The blue-chip CSI300 index declined 0.55%, or 27.40 points, to 4,921.34.

New energy shares were down, as outbreak of COVID-19 weighed on some business operations. New energy vehicle giant BYD dropped 3.6%, after reports that the company had to cut production at its plant in Xian. Chinese battery giant CATL plunged 7.3%.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan was little changed against the U.S. dollar on Friday after softer mid-point fixing by the central bank. Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate CNY=PBOC at 6.3692 per dollar, 41 pips weaker than the previous fix of 6.3651. In the spot market, the onshore yuan CNY=CFXS was changing hands at 6.3700 at midday, 5 pips weaker than the previous late-session close.

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