Chinese Stocks Fall Thursday

BEIJING, May 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese shares failed to be boosted by a Wednesday government pledge to pay more attention to stabilizing economic growth, extending declines for a second day Thursday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.53 percent, or 12.46 points, to close at 2,350.97.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed down 1.56 percent, or 158.62 points, to finish at 9,984.58.

Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to 144.7 billion yuan (22.9billion U.S. dollars) from 154.3 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 685 to 231 in Shanghai and by 997 to 418 in Shenzhen.

The markets reacted negatively amid rising concerns over the slowing economy, which slowed to 8.1 percent in the first quarter, down from 8.4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

In response, the State Council, China's Cabinet, has urged the implementation of structural tax reduction measures to ease tax burdens for businesses, as well as called for optimizing the credit structure to focus more on satisfying the needs of the real economy and keeping social financing at a reasonable level.

Breweries and securities firms declined. Wuliangye Yibin Co., Ltd. fell 4.71 percent to 32.59 yuan per share; Soochow Securities Co., Ltd. fell 2.76 percent to 9.52 yuan.

Bucking the trend, shares related to railway infrastructure and cement stocks rose, buoyed by a government plan to launch key construction projects to lift the economy.

China Railway Erju Co., Ltd. rose 4.06 percent to 6.67 yuan, while Ningxia Building Materials Group Co., Ltd. jumped 4.97 percent to 11.83 yuan.