Shanghai stocks down 6.5% at close after flirting with 5,000-point mark

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 6.5% on Thursday in the biggest percentage dip since January, The Wall Street Journal reported. Word of China’s sovreign-wealth fund selling stakes in state-owned banks, brokerages’ tightening of margin lending practices and the central bank’s sopping up of liquidity in the financial system combined to push Shanghai stocks back down as the index neared the 5,000-point mark to ultimately close at 4620.27. Stocks in Shenzhen finished down 5.5%. Li Shaojun, an analyst at Minsheng Securities, said Thursday’s drop in Shanghai could shift the market from a “crazy bull into a slow bull.”