China stocks fall the most in 2 weeks, China Unicom tumbles

The fund raising by Unicom, a state-owned telecoms group, had sparked hopes for the mixed ownership effort, as outlined in a 2015 government plan.

SHANGHAI: China stocks fell the most in nearly two weeks on Thursday, as China Unicom tumbled after rallying earlier in the week as excitement over state enterprise reforms cooled.

Investors were also cautious as the Shanghai benchmark neared the 3,300-point-mark, a level that has proven to be a stiff hurdle with three failed attempts to breach it over the past nine months.

The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.6 percent, to 3,734.65, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5 percent to 3,271.51 points.

After a calmer morning session, sentiment soured as China Unicom extended its losses in afternoon trading, down nearly 7 percent at close.

The stock spiked by its daily limit of 10 percent on Monday and Tuesday, before slipping 0.9 percent on Wednesday.

The surge was triggered by a planned restructuring that would see the listed telecom operator tap a dozen major investors, including Alibaba Group, Tencent Holdings and Baidu, for funds.

"State-owned enterprise restructuring remains an attractive investment theme, and we have been looking for the next company that will likely undergo restructuring," said Wu Kan, head of equity trading at Shanshan Finance.

Stocks fell across the board, with brokerage stocks pulling back sharply following the previous day's gains. - Reuters