Editorial Summary

The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.65% to close at 2,856.643, while the Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 1.13% to close at 860.22 on Friday. Trading volume on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges reached RMB 69.79 billion and RMB 37.79 billion, respectively.

Shares of real estate companies including China Merchants Property Development (000024.SZ), Poly Real Estate Group (600048.SH), Gemdale (600838.SH) and Yihua Real Estate (000150.SZ) fell 4.42%, 4.46%, 4.68% and 6.69% to reach RMB 17.3, RMB 10.06, RMB 16.91 and RMB 6.0, respectively.

Gemdale announced June sales statistics on July 11. The developer sold 110,600 square meters of land in June, a month-on-month increase of 42.98%, for sales revenue of RMB 1.298 billion, up 95.48% from the previous month. Aggregate first half sales were 476,000 square meters, down 11.97% year-on-year, for revenue of RMB 4.972 billion, up 5.29% from the year-ago period.

Hunan-based department store Your-mart has filed with Chinese regulators to issue up to 50 million shares in an initial public offering (IPO) on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, reports China Business News. Your-mart recorded sales revenue of RMB 1.6 billion in 2007 for net profit of RMB 94.6 million. Your-mart currently operates seven department stores and plans to expand business operation area by 180,400 square meters in 2008, said the report.