Stock index sinks 3.3% to 21-month low

The main stock index slid 3.34 percent to a fresh 21-month closing low yesterday, led by blue chips, as gloom over the slowing economy and large supplies of fresh equity persisted.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended at 2078.98 points, near the day's low of 2070.43, leaving it down 66 percent from last October's record peak.

Banks were hit particularly hard, in line with a global trend after Lehman Brothers posted a record quarterly loss in the United States. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, sank 4.66 percent to 4.3 yuan.