China stocks drop as fears of new U.S. tariffs weigh
SHANGHAI, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Stocks in China reversed early gains to edge lower on Friday, in the last trading session ahead of a deadline for public comment on fresh U.S. trade tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods, though details on the timing of tariffs remained murky.
** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 3.46 points or 0.13 percent at 2,688.13.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 index slipped 0.14 percent, while its financial sector sub-index climbed 0.16 percent and the real estate index rose 0.29 percent.
** The Trump administration is ready to move ahead with a next round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports after a public comment period ended at midnight in Washington on Thursday (0400 GMT Friday), but the timing is uncertain, people familiar with the administration's plans told Reuters.
** China has warned of retaliation if the United States introduces new tariffs, a commerce ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
** Worries over potential new tariffs weighed on markets around Asia, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.66 percent, having earlier reached its lowest since mid-July last year. Japan's Nikkei index was down 1.02 percent.
** Healthcare shares were up, with the sub-index of the CSI300 tracking healthcare firms, which rose as much as 2.7 percent before ending the morning session 0.9 percent higher.
** The gains follow heavy selling of healthcare shares in recent months amid a vaccine scandal that has undermined confidence in healthcare and consumer firms. The healthcare sub-index is down 24 percent from late-May highs. Consumer firms were less than 0.1 percent higher on Friday.
** Shares in Juneyao Airlines Co Ltd jumped more than 7 percent as investors hunt for bargains in airline stocks after losses in recent months due to a weak yuan and rise in oil prices.
** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong dropped 0.55 percent to 10,520.74 at midday, while the Hang Seng Index was down 0.86 percent at 26,744.13.
** The smaller Shenzhen index slipped 0.27 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index fell 0.16 percent.
** The yuan was quoted at 6.841 per U.S. dollar, 0.21 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.8267.
** The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Zhejiang Tiancheng Controls Co Ltd, which rose 10.03 percent, followed by Shanghai Sunglow Packaging Technology Co Ltd Co Ltd, which gained 10.02 percent and Qingdao Tianhua Institute of Chemistry Engineering Co Ltd , which climbed 10.02 percent.
** The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Nanjing Central Emporium Group Stocks Co Ltd, which dropped 9.97 percent, followed by Shanghai Baosight Software Co Ltd, which lost 8.36 percent and Dawning Information Industry Co Ltd, which fell 7.7 percent.
** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is down 18.61 percent, while China's H-share index is down 9.7 percent. Shanghai stocks have declined 1.24 percent this month.
** The top gainers among H-shares were China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd, which rose 1.75 percent, followed by CRRC Corp Ltd, which climbed 1.67 percent and GF Securities Co Ltd, which gained 1.05 percent.
** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China Gas Holdings Ltd, which fell 3.26 percent, CGN Power Co Ltd, which lost 1.7 percent and China Galaxy Securities Co Ltd, which slipped 1.6 percent.
** About 6.24 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 51.2 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 12.18 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 9.90 billion, as of last full trading day.
** As of 0425 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 19.24 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
** The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and below its 200-day moving average.
** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 11.32, as of the last full trading day, while the dividend yield was 2.7 percent.
** So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index dropped 1.24 percent to 28.66 trillion yuan.
** In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares fell 0.3 percent, while the IT sector lost 0.8 percent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd, which climbed 1.79 percent, while the biggest loser was Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd, which fell 4.26 percent.
(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
