The Chinese stocks declined during inactive trading conditions – the investors’ sentiment is weakened by recent measures that have been taken by the regulatory authorities to strengthen control over the aggressive investment by insurance companies.
Thus, CSI300 index, which tracks the share value of the largest companies traded in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and the index of the Shanghai Stock Exchange - Shanghai Composite, dropped both by 0.4% and ended the day at 3,302.21 points and 3,102.54 points respectively.
The investor confidence was shaken amid today's media reports which quoted Vice-President of the Commission on regulation of insurance activities in China (CIRC) that insurance companies should not become a "financial platform" to enrich speculators.
In addition, on Wednesday, CIRC said it suspended the two insurance companies from insurance activity online.
All the sectors went down on trades. The worst performers were the shares of companies engaged in the infrastructure and real estate, which lost about 1%.
At the same time, the growth in commodity prices has allowed to neutralize the downward trend in the shares of the commodity and energy sectors.
Meanwhile, the stock indexes of Hong Kong rose on the first trading day after the Christmas holidays due to higher raw material prices in China, which supported an increase in shares of energy and raw material companies.
The index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange – Hang Seng, rose 0.8% to 21,754.74 points. The index of Chinese companies traded in Hong Kong gained 1.3% and closed at 9,300.63 points.
Most sectors have strengthened. The best results came from technology sector, which grew by 2%.
In Japan, Nikkei finished the Wednesday session with no serious changes.
Nikkei 225 fell 0.01% to 19,401.72 points. The broader Topix index rose 0.04%, ending trading at 1,536.80 points. The JPX-Nikkei 400 index rose 0.03% to 13,780.50 points.