Stock markets decline amid concerns over borrowing costs

Stock markets in the Chinese mainland continued to decline on Thursday amid concerns over rising borrowing costs in the money market.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell for an eighth consecutive day. The index declined by 20.49 points or 0.95 percent to close at 2,148.28 points on Thursday. The Shenzhen Component Index fell by 89.24 points or 1.08 percent to 8,147.70 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses on Thursday was 140.0 billion yuan ($23.05 billion), slightly up from Wednesday's 130.2 billion yuan.

The US Federal Reserve announced Wednesday that it would wind down its $85 billion-a-month quantitative easing program, triggering concerns about a possible outflow of funds from Asia to the US.

Also, the Shanghai interbank offered rate, or Shibor, a measure of China's interbank lending rate, climbed to 6.4 percent on Thursday, the highest level in six months, sparking concerns about the high cost of borrowing money.

Chinese stock markets have seen a trading volume of below 200 billion yuan this month, partly because investors are holding a wait-and-see attitude ahead of the resumption of initial public offerings in January.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups listed in Shenzhen, rose by 0.08 points or 0.01 percent to 1,256.08 points on Thursday.