Among 100 listing companies posting the biggest losses in market capitalization this year, 38 are state-owned enterprises (SOEs), according to data from financial data provider Wind Info.
The SOEs, all run by the central government, lost a combined 1.3 trillion yuan this year at the end of December 23, with PetroChina (SSE:601857), China Shenhua Energy (SSE: 601088), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (SSE: 601398) and China Life Insurance (SSE:601628) paring over 100 billion yuan, Wind data showed.
PetroChina lost 220.2 billion yuan in value, or 600 million yuan every day, to stand at 1.24 trillion yuan close to the year-end while its rival Sinopec also nudged into the top ten spot for the biggest losers.
Market capitalization of both the Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange rose from 22.94 trillion yuan at the start of the year to 23.39 trillion, according to Wind. Specifically, 1,652 companies saw their value rise and 811 witnessed fall in value.
Leading liquor makers, including Jiangsu Yanghe Brewery JSC, JIugui Liquor, Shanxi Fen Wine, were among the hardest-hit companies, with their market capitalization more than halved from earlier this year.
Comparing with SOEs' weak equity market performance, an official with China's state-asset regulator said yesterday that the central government-run SOEs were expected to deliver a "strong" profit aggregate of roughly 1.3 trillion yuan this year.
"Against the backdrop of uncertainties both home and abroad, it is really not easy for such achievements," said Huang Shuhe, deputy director at the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Xinhua reported.
