China's stock indices led lower by property shares; refiners, airlines up on lower oil prices

Wed, Jul 23 03:30 PM

SHANGHAI, China (AP) _ China's main stock indices fell Wednesday, led lower by property shares, while refiners and airlines rose on lower oil prices. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.29 percent to close at 2837.85.

The Shenzhen Composite Index for China's smaller second market shed 1.02 percent to close at 846.10. The country's biggest developer, China Vanke Ltd.

, fell 1.36 percent. Poly Real Estate Group dropped 1.54 percent.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, Asia's largest refiner by volume, rose 0.82 percent.

PetroChina, Ltd., the country's biggest oil producer, climbed 0.13 percent.

That came after prices of light, sweet crude for September delivery dropped below US$127 a barrel in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Any easing in crude prices is a boost to Chinese refiners, which have been squeezed by government controls that limit their ability to pass on crude costs to consumers.

China Eastern Airlines Corp. soared 4.16 percent, while Air China Ltd.

added 0.94 percent. The main Shanghai index is up 3.7 percent this month but is down 53 percent since hitting a record high of 6092.06 on Oct.

16. In currency markets, China's yuan rose to 6.8202 to the U.S. dollar.

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