Mutual fund loss blamed on weak stock market

China's mutual fund industry lost $741 million in the first half of the year due to poor stock market performance, the IHT reported, citing figures in the China Securities Journal on Monday. China's 181 mutual funds managed by 42 fund firms lost nearly US$740 million in the first six months of 2005.  Beijing's program to sell off more than US$200 billion of state-held shares in listed companies has pushed the Chinese market to eight-year lows as investors feared the flood of state shares would dilute the value of their holdings.