China shares fall on renewed fears of property curbs ahead of monthly economic data

China shares fall on renewed property curb fears

SHANGHAI — Chinese shares fell Thursday on fears of possible new government curbs on real estate as investors waited for monthly economic data.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 38.94 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 2,656.35. The Shenzhen Composite Index for China’s smaller second exchange also shed 1.4 percent to end at 1,179.13.

Investors worry Beijing might further tighten lending curbs to cool housing costs if August data show prices rising, analysts said. September and October are usually a peak home sales period.

“August’s real estate data are likely to show an uptick. That will mean a failure of government efforts, so it might come out with more,” said Huang Xiangbin, an analyst for Cinda Securities in Beijing.

Poly Real Estate Group, China’s second-biggest developer, declined 4.1 percent to 11.32 yuan, while rival China Vanke Ltd. lost 3.4 percent to 8.28 yuan.

Banks fell on rumors they might be ordered to set aside more capital to cover possible loan defaults.

Bank of China Ltd. slipped 0.9 percent to 3.34 yuan, while Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., China’s biggest commercial lender, dropped 0.7 percent to 4.06 yuan. Midsize lender Pudong Development Bank Ltd. shed 2.5 percent to 13.54 yuan.

Metal shares rose on hopes of higher prices as producers cut output to comply with government energy-saving goals.

Rising Nonferrous Metals Share Co. surged by the daily 10 percent limit to 39.66 yuan, while Minmetals Development Co. advanced 8.4 percent to 21.8 yuan.

In currency markets, the yuan strengthened to 6.7860 to the U.S. dollar from Wednesday’s close of 6.7970.

Associated Press researcher Bonnie Cao in Beijing contributed to this report.