China Stocks Close Down on Monday

BEIJING, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares on Monday declined moderately, weighed down by weak property stocks.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 4.6 points, or 0.19 percent, to finish at 2,434.86.

The Shenzhen Component Index fell 33.88 points, or 0.33 percent, to end at 10,300.50.

Combined turnover on the two bourses expanded to 206.8 billion yuan (32.7 billion U.S. dollars) from 194.2 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Stocks of property developers led the decline after China's central bank governor said Monday that cuts to banks' reserve requirement ratio would not necessarily boost the nation's property market.

Poly Real Estate, the nation's second largest property developer, fell 3.85 percent to 11.23 yuan per share; Citychamp Dartong Co., Ltd. plunged 5.77 percent to 9.31 yuan.

Coal stocks mostly fell after a strong rally the previous trading day. Heilongjiang Heihua Co., Ltd. fell 2.21 percent to 6.63 yuan; Guizhou Panjiang Refined Coal Co., Ltd. dropped 1.8 percent to 29.98 yuan.

Bucking the trend, bio-pharmaceutical shares rose with Shanghai RAAS Blood Products Co., Ltd. up by the daily limit of 10 percent to close at 28.01 yuan; Hualan biological Engineering Inc. jumped 6.69 percent to 27.1 yuan per share.