Chinese stock markets closed lower on Thursday, due to profit-taking of the shares of real estate giant G Wanke and lackluster performance of shares of bellwether Sinopec and Baosteel.

The Composite Stock Index on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, which comprises mainly yuan-denominated A shares and foreign-currency B shares, dipped below the 1,300 point key psychological level again one day after it exceed the level.

It closed at 1,294.72 points, down 0.83 percent, with a turnover of 13.8 billion yuan (1.7 billion U.S. dollars).

The major index of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the Shenzhen Component Index, was down by 0.92 percent, closing at 3,488.07 points with a total turnover of 9.2 billion yuan.

Wan Bing, an analyst with the Hexun Information Co., described the downward fluctuation as normal as the two major indices and the share price of G Wanke reached new highs in recent few months.

He said the tendency of the growth of the two indices in the long-run remain unchanged.

But analysts with the Tiantong Securities Co. blamed the market falls mainly on the US Federal Reserve's latest move to raise the country's interest rates.

In the first meeting overseen by Ben Bernanke as chairman, the Federal Open Market Committee on Tuesday raised the key federal funds rate 25 basis points to 4.75 percent, the 15th consecutive rate increase by that amount since June 2004. It also hinted more hikes were still to come.

Source: Xinhua