Benchmark dips amid tightening concerns

SHANGHAI: China's benchmark stock index fell as developers dropped on concern tighter lending standards will curb demand for property, countering gains by consumer-related companies ahead of the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday.

Poly Real Estate Group Co, the nation's second-largest developer by market value, dropped 2.3 percent and Gemdale Corp lost 1.6 percent after the Financial News said Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd will limit the amount of new loans this year. Suning Appliance Co, China's biggest home appliance retailer by market value, added 2.9 percent and Panda Fireworks Group Co jumped 6.6 percent.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 4.23, or 0.1 percent, to 2,935.17 at the close after swinging between gains and losses more than 10 times. The gauge has slumped 10 percent in 2010 on concern the government will raise interest rates and curb lending to cool the economy and avert asset bubbles. The CSI 300 Index, measuring exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, slipped 0.1 percent to 3,150.99.