BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares continued to fall for a third consecutive day on Thursday on concerns of a slowdown in the country's economic growth.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.78 percent, or 21.09points, to end at 2,684.78 points. The Shenzhen Component Index edged down 0.38 percent to 9,288.37 points.
Aggregate turnover on the two bourses totaled 80.28 billion yuan (11.77 billion U.S. dollars), shrinking from 93.87 billion yuan on the previous trading day.
The key Shanghai index gained 0.79 percent in the morning session, boosted by lower world crude oil prices and an overnight rebound on Wall Street.
The gains, however, were soon overshadowed by concerns of an economic slowdown, with market heavyweights leading the fall, a Capital Securities analyst said.
PetroChina, the biggest index component, slipped 0.81 percent to 14.72 yuan. Sinopec, Asia's top oil refiner, shed 0.87 percent to 10.31 yuan and China Merchants Bank dropped 0.18 percent to 21.96 yuan.
The country's gross domestic product (GDP) rose 10.4 percent year on year in the first half, down from 10.6 percent in the first quarter and 12.2 percent in the first half of 2007, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Thursday.
Consumer inflation eased to 7.1 percent in June from 7.7 percent in May and the 8.7 percent peak in February. Factory-gate inflation accelerated to 8.8 percent, the fastest pace since November 2004.
Airline shares gained, however, as falling crude prices would cut their fuel costs.
Air China added 0.10 percent to 9.77 yuan, China Southern Airlines rose 1.21 percent to 7.51 yuan, while Hainan Airlines gained 1.22 percent to 4.96 yuan.
