Trade was extremely sluggish as retail investors dominated the market and traded mainly in so-called WTO plays -- textile, port, shipping and property firms expected to benefit from China's entry to the global trade body.

Shanghai's composite index shed 11.779 points to 1,679.572 as turnover fell to 4.3 billion yuan (US$518 million) from an already meagre 5.25 billion yuan (US$633 million) last Friday.

Shenzhen's sub-index fell 43.00 to 3,388.99 points. Trade was down at 2.7 billion yuan (US$325 million)from 2.82 billion yuan (US$340.3 million) last Friday.

WTO-related firms surged last week, so some profit taking emerged on Monday, such as in the hard-currency B shares of garment maker Matsuoka, the biggest decliner on the Shanghai market.

Matsuoka ended down 1.35 per cent at US$1.607. But other WTO plays rose on continued investor interest, brokers said.

The Shanghai B-share index ended down 0.04 per cent at 156.025 points while Shenzhen's inched down 0.01 per cent to 251.60. B shares are open to foreign investors.

Turnover dropped to the lowest level since early March. In Shanghai, it slowed to a trickle of US$11.91 million, down from an already tiny US$18.32 million on Friday. In Shenzhen, it was HK$77.14 million (US$10.22 million), down from HK$102.86 million (US$13.6 million).

There was no boost following a Shanghai Securities News report in which Laura Cha, vice-chairwoman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, said foreigners would be allowed to buy into funds investing in domestic shares after China joins the WTO.

The news failed to ease liquidity fears sparked by an announcement by Beijing Hualian Department Store Co on Friday that it would issue A shares this week in China's first initial public offering (IPO) in about three months.

"Beijing Hualian's IPO triggered a wait-and-see attitude as investors feared it would be followed by a series of new share issues," said analyst Guo Yong of Guangfa Securities.

Chen Junhao, an analyst at Orient Securities, said investors believed the opening of the capital markets was linked to other economic reforms, such as foreign exchange controls, so it would only be implemented gradually.

Under current regulations, foreigners are banned from investing in China's US$600 billion A-share market and can trade only on the tiny B-share market consisting of about 110 firms.

Regulators have said they will gradually allow foreigners restricted access to the yuan-denominated A shares through a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII) scheme modelled after Taiwan's, but have made slow progress.

Brokers said the indices were likely to move narrowly in the near term with investors waiting for clearer signs on regulators' attitude towards IPOs.

They said investors were likely to continue to target WTO plays as China's 15-year quest to join the global trade club is expected to be formally approved by a meeting of the organization in Doha, Qatar starting on Friday.

On Monday, many WTO plays outperformed the market as they have done so many times this year. Private exporter Chengde Dixian Textile, for instance, rose 1.54 per cent to HK$7.89 (US$1.04).

(China Daily November 6, 2001)