国内英语新闻：Chinese shares fall 2.76% in 10th consecutive losing day

BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares sank to a 15-month low on Tuesday in very low volume, amid weak investor confidence.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.76 percent to 2,794.75, its 10th loss in a row. The Shenzhen Component Index fared worse, sinking 4.03 percent, or 395.77 points, to 9,429.50.

    The Hushen 300 Index, which reflects about 60 percent of the combined market value in Shanghai and Shenzhen, closed at 2,842.68 points, down 109.57 points, or 3.71 percent.

Investors read information at a stock trading hall in Shanghai, China, June 10, 2008. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.76 percent to 2,794.75, its 10th loss in a row

    Total turnover was just 67.5 billion yuan (9.65 billion U.S. dollars).

    Financial, oil and petrochemical, real estate, mining, transportation and broker stocks led the plunge.

    China Merchant Property, for example, dipped 7.36 percent to 16.12 yuan.

A man looks at the electronic board showing the stock index at a securities exchange in Shanghai, east China, June 17, 2008.

The Shanghai index slid through the 2,800-point mark, touching 2,799.33 points at midday, shortly after the National Bureau of Statistics said the growth rate of fixed-asset investment slowed in the first five months.

    Urban fixed-asset investment rose 25.6 percent year-on-year to 4.026 trillion yuan in the first five months of 2008. The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points below the same period last year and 0.1 percentage point less than the January-April period this year.

    Analysts said the market was also being undermined by surging world oil prices, weakening regional economies and the government's efforts to curb liquidity and tame inflation.

    The People's Bank of China, the central bank, earlier this month lifted the bank reserve ratio by a full percentage point to 17.5 percent.