China stocks fall amid new shares concerns

Chinese shares fell on Wednesday despite latest government data showing economic growth accelerated to 7.5 percent in the second quarter from 7.4 percent in the first.

The fall ended a winning-streak in the previous three trading days. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went down 0.15 percent to finish at 2,067.28 points. The Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.58 percent to close at 7,261.91 points.

Analysts said the approval of 12 firms' initial public offering applications by the nation's securities regulator on Monday fueled concerns that new shares will divert funds from existing equities, which weighed negatively on the market on Wednesday.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, tumbled 1.69 percent to 1,318.62 points.

Combined turnover of the two bourses shrank to 227.2 billion yuan (36.92 billion U.S. dollars) from 249.27 billion yuan the previous trading day.

"The Chinese economy showed good momentum of stable and moderate growth in the first half of the year," said Sheng Laiyun, spokesman of the National Bureau of Statistics.

New growth drivers have offset most of the negative drag from the country's property downturn and a serious adjustment in some heavy industrial sectors in the first half.

Sheng said China has been working to leverage the role of technological innovation in spurring growth and this has shown some effects, citing a boom in online sales and fast growth in the high-tech sector.

A research note from YD Investment Consulting said that the latest data indicated a stabilizing economy, which should generally support a rebound of the stock market.