SHANGHAI: Chinese shares fell for a second straight session on Wednesday after global market sentiment soured on the prospect of a swift US stimulus boost and as domestic data showed softer growth in bank lending.
The Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.6% at 3,319.27. The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.7%. The smaller Shenzhen index lost 1.3%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index fell almost 2% and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR50 index dropped 2.2%.
Chinese banks extended 992.7 billion yuan ($142.82 billion) in new yuan loans in July, down sharply from 1.81 trillion yuan in June and falling short of analysts' expectations, data from People's Bank of China (PBOC) on Tuesday showed.
The yuan was 0.05% weaker at 6.9501 per US dollar at 0716 GMT.
The Shanghai stock index is up 8.8% this year and the CSI300 has risen 13.5%. Shanghai stocks are up 0.3% this month. About 37.83 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, less than the previous session's 40.05 billion. The Chinese market tracked Asian peers and pulled back in early trade on uncertainties around the US stimulus package. The regional sell-off ran out of steam in late session, helping Chinese shares limit their losses.
"We have seen profit-taking across the board, with a huge pull-back in tech stocks worldwide. That is affecting sentiment here," said Alex Wong, director at Ample Finance Group. "There has been a good run and people are willing to take some profit off the table."
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