China shares closed slightly lower yesterday as investors stayed on the sidelines, worried about a liquidity crunch due to a large, impending initial public offering (IPO) by Beijing-based Huaxia Bank, brokers said.

The benchmark Shanghai composite index, grouping hard-currency B shares and yuan-denominated A shares, dipped 0.04 per cent to 1,441.090 points, a fresh seven-month low.

Huaxia Bank will float 1 billion domestic shares next Tuesday in an IPO offer priced at 5.60 yuan (US$0.67) per share, raising more than five billion yuan (US$600 million).

"Huaxia's huge IPO is likely to add to investors' woes as the markets are already weak," said Zhang Qi, an analyst at Haitong Securities.

Chongqing Chang'an Automobile was the biggest decliner and most actively traded B share in Shenzhen as investors cashed in profits, pushing the counter down 2.22 per cent to HK$6.18 (US$0.79).

China's top minivanmaker had warned of slower second-half growth and of price pressures after posting a 596 per cent jump in second-quarter profit. Its B shares had risen nearly 80 per cent this year.

"The bearish sentiment is seen continuing in the near term with trade sluggish," Zhang said.

The Shanghai composite index has slid 6.34 per cent since mid-July, hit by negative factors including a slew of stock offers and a tightening of bank loans.

Shanxi Guangyang New Energy Co Ltd, which issued 150 million A shares in an IPO in Shanghai yesterday at 8.20 yuan per share (US$0.99), was shrugged off by investors with narrow gains and thin trade.

The coal-mine operator finished up 10.73 per cent at 9.08 yuan (US$1.1), with only 59.12 million shares changing hands.

"Investors didn't want to put their money into a weak market with further losses expected," said analyst Chen Dong at Mingfa Securities.

The Shanghai B-share index edged up 0.52 per cent to 98.807 points, due to a technical rebound after dropping to its lowest level since February, 2001 on Wednesday. Its Shenzhen counterpart rose 0.71 per cent to 220.96.

On the foreign exchange market, China's yuan ended two notches stronger versus the US dollar at 8.2766, at the firmer end of its managed trading range.

The one-year non-deliverable dollar forward discount versus the yuan was traded at a high of 1,400 and was at 1,480 at 0827 GMT. It closed at 1,450 on Wednesday, implying a price of 8.1330 per dollar in a year's time.

NDFs are a transaction where a forward price is agreed between a customer and a bank, but settlement on the value date is undertaken entirely in US dollars.

One-year implied yuan volatility was traded at 3.50/4.25 per cent yesterday.

Implied volatility is a measure of how much the options market expects the price of the underlying asset to move during the life of the option. Volatilities are often traded actively and independently.

The yuan moves in a band of 8.2760 to 8.2800 enforced by the central bank.

Turnover dropped to US$390 million from US$500 million on Wednesday. The yuan weakened to 7.0081 against 100 Japanese yen from 6.9840, but firmed versus the euro to 9.1201 from 9.1913.

Shanghai copper futures ended a five-day rising streak after ending lower in slack trade yesterday, ignoring a small climb on the London Metal Exchange, traders said.

The most active January copper contract lost 80 yuan to 17,920 yuan (US$2,174) a ton, while other futures declined 50 yuan to 100 yuan. Combined volume dwindled to 39,548 lots from an already-thin 41,478 lots on Wednesday.

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