Shenzhen A-shares close slightly higher; B-shares lower

SHENZHEN (AFX-ASIA) - A-share prices closed slightly higher, although trade was lacklustre as focus was on profit-taking in the B-share market, dealers said. Demand for B-shares from domestic individuals remains huge, although dealers said profit-taking has actually strengthened, particularly after selling pressure pushed the shares sharply lower in early trade today, they said. Reported comments from China Securities Regulatory Commission chairman Zhou Xiaochuan indicating that a merger of the A- and B-share markets may take considerably longer than many investors appear to expect did little to dampen domestic investor demand for B-shares, they said. Shenzhen's Securities Times today cited Zhou as saying that there will be no merger of the A- and B-share markets in the next 5-10 years. The A-share sub-index rose 20.40 points or 0.39 pct to 5,216.44 on turnover of 5.77 bln yuan after trading between 5,231.96 and 5,198.25. The gains were contributed mainly by Shenzhen Development Bank, Panzhihua New Steel, Taigang Stainless Steel, Beijing Shougang andChina Baoan. The B-share sub-index closed down 16.37 points or 1.2 pct at 1,339.19 after trading between 1,484.27 and 1,311.59. The component A- and B-share index closed 14.12 points or 0.3 pct higher at 4,615.80 on turnover of 11.56 bln yuan after trading to a high of 4,650.22 and a low of 4,597.46. Shenzhen Development Bank gained 0.33 yuan to15.43 on 15.3 mln shares. Panzhihua New Steel gained 0.09 yuan to 8.44 on 7.2 mln shares, while Taigang Stainless Steel rose 0.17 yuan at 7 on 16.4 mln shares and Beijing Shougang gained 0.03 yuan to 11.15 on 5 mln shares. China Baoan rose 0.12 yuan to 7.31 on 3.6 mlnshares. Among B-shares, Guangdong Electric Power dropped 0.14 hkd to 4.92 on 106.2 mln shares, while Wuhan Boiler declined 0.01 hkd to 2.65 on 41.7 mln shares and Foshan Huaxin Packaging lost 0.11 hkd to 4.1 on 41.1 mln shares. Shandong Airlines was down 0.22 hkd to 3.96 on 33.5 mln shares.

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