Chinese stocks fall first time in four days

A concerned Chinese investor looks at prices of shares (red for price rising and green for price falling) at a stock brokerage house in Fuyang city, East China's Anhui province, March 3. [Photo by Lu Qijian / Asianewsphoto]

China's stocks fell for the first time in four days, led by financial and energy companies, amid market concern for growth prospect.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index closed at 3,263.05 on Tuesday, down 2.2 percent or 73.23 points, while Shenzhen Component index slid 3 percent to 11,526.22.

Financial sector led the loss on Tuesday. Industrial and Commercial Bank, Ningbo Bank and Beijing Bank lost nearly 4 percent, and CITIC Bank 4.7 percent, as Shang Fulin, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, writing to an industry magazine urged banks to speed up adjusting development strategy and shift from traditional profit model.

The central bank announced a rate cut by 25 basis points on Saturday evening, lowering the one-year benchmark lending and savings rate to 5.35 and 2.5 percent respectively.

Brokerages including Guoyuan Securities, Huatai Securities and Western Securities tumbled more than 5 percent on Tuesday, despite the cut.

Index tracking coal and electricity sector edged down 2.1 and 1.3 percent respectively. The State Information Center said in a report on Monday that China's economy is expected to slow down and grow 7 percent the in the first quarter of this year.

The CSI 300 Index slid 2.6 percent and closed at 3,507.9.