At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.1 per cent at 3,479.63. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.71 per cent, with the consumer staples sector down 3.01 per cent after rallying nearly 6.5 per cent last week. The financial sector sub-index slid 0.39 per cent, and the healthcare sub-index lost 0.29 per cent.
The three biggest drags on the CSI300 index were all distillers. Kweichow Moutai Co Ltd dropped 3.06 per cent, Wuliangye Yibin Co Ltd fell 4.89 per cent and Luzhou Laojiao Co Ltd dropped 6.11 per cent.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.36 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.862 per cent.
Foreign investors were slight net sellers of A-shares on Wednesday, with Refinitiv data indicating outflows from the Shanghai Stock Exchange via the Stock Connect programme through Hong Kong. Analysts say that strong economic data could prompt authorities to tighten policy, putting pressure on equity valuations.
“We can’t rule out the possibility that policymakers may move as early as late this year to tighten monetary policy, potentially triggering knock-on effects in both the real economy and financial markets,” Christina Zhu, economist at Moody’s Analytics said in a note.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.27 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.12 per cent.
At 07:21 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.5434 per U.S. dollar, 0.04 per cent weaker than the previous close of 6.5409. So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 0.2 per cent and the CSI300 has fallen 2.1 per cent, while China’s H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 3 per cent. Shanghai stocks have risen 1.1 per cent this month.
