Recession woes, profit-taking end brief rally

China's main stock index ended 2.44 percent lower yesterday as worries about global recession moved to the fore, spurring profit-taking by nervous investors in financial and coal shares that had rallied the previous day.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended at 1717.722 points, after rising 3.16 percent on Wednesday when the announcement of Barack Obama's win in the US presidential election buoyed sentiment.

Turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to 27.0 billion yuan from Wednesday's one-week high of 37.4 billion.