China Market falls on weak data

The Mainland China share market finished session lower on Wednesday, 15 September 2021, as risk aversion selloff continued on worries about a slowing world's second-biggest economy after outbreaks of coronavirus Delta variant infections and official data showed industrial output and retail sales in August grew at slowest pace in a year.

At closing bell, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.17%, or 6.38 points, to 3,656.22. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, fell 0.11%, or 2.76 points, to 2,486.13. The blue-chip CSI300 index dropped 1.01%, or 49.84 points, to 4,867.32.

A burst of data out today showed businesses were grappling with the impact of localised lockdowns following sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks, supply bottlenecks and high raw materials costs. China's retail sales grew 2.5 per cent in August 2021 from a year ago, sharply down from the 8.5 per cent witnessed in July. China's industrial output rose 5.3% in August from a year earlier compared with a 6.4% increase in July.

The southeastern province of Fujian reported its fifth straight day of new local COVID-19 infections, though they were confined to three coastal cities where a total of 152 cases had been reported between Sept 10-14.

CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan eased against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday despite stronger mid-point fixing by central bank. Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate CNY=PBOC at 6.4492 per dollar, 8 pips firmer than the previous fix of 6.4500. In the spot market, onshore yuan CNY=CFXS opened at 6.4430 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.4421 at midday, 39 pips softer than the previous late session close.

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