At close of trade, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.5%, or 18.13 points, to 3,589.31. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, dropped 1.22%, or 30.88 points, to 2,495.50. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.17%, or 8.40 points, to 4,892.62.
The heavily-indebted developer Evergrande's said on Friday that there was no guarantee it would have enough funds to meet debt repayments, prompting China's Guangdong province authorities to summon its chairman.
The People's Bank of China will reduce the reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage point for most banks on Dec. 15, releasing 1.2 trillion yuan of liquidity, according to a statement published Monday. The cut is a regular monetary policy action," the PBOC said, pre-empting expectations that the decision was the start of an easing cycle.
The reduction was signaled by Premier Li Keqiang last week when he said that authorities would cut the RRR at an appropriate time to help smaller companies, and is the second reduction this year. The decision comes after Beijing's tightening curbs on the property market have led to a slump in construction and worsened a liquidity crisis at developer China Evergrande Group and other real-estate firms.
CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan strengthened against the U.S. dollar on Monday after firmer mid-point fixing by central bank. Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the midpoint rate CNY=PBOC at 6.3702 per dollar, 0.06% firmer than the previous fix of 6.3738. In the spot market, the onshore yuan CNY=CFXS was changing hands at 6.3688 at late afternoon on Monday, 72 pips or 0.11% stronger than the previous late session close.
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