Shanghai Composite Sees Further Deep Losses

Stocks in Shanghai traded sharply lower in late Tuesday morning trade, with the Shanghai Composite Index swinging from mild gains in the early minutes to sit 4.1% lower just ahead of the midday break. While preliminary June Chinese manufacturing data from HSBC showed a mild improvement from the previous month, the support from the numbers was fleeting. The Shanghai Composite Index had lost 13% last week, and was trading for the first time this week after a three-day holiday. Some of the major names in Shanghai and the smaller Shenzhen market again saw heavy losses, with Gemdale Corp. down 6%, Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. down 6.7% and Huadian Energy Co. down 9.6%. But a few blue chips found support for solid gains, including China Vanke Co. (up 1.9%), Ping An Insurance Group Co. (up 2%), Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (up 1.4%) and China Southern Airlines Co. (up 2.4%)