Chinese share prices slightly lower at midday

BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Chinese media) -- Though big shareholders of

centrally-administered state-owned enterprises were required to increase

holdings in their listed arms, Chinese equities failed to reverse the slack run

for the past four trading days and ended Friday's morning session slightly

lower.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 5.31 points, or 0.29 percent,

to 1,842.47. Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange

slid 95.94 points, or 1.41 percent to 6,689.10.

Combined turnover was 28.26 (4.13 billion U.S. dollars), down from 30.29

billion yuan in the morning session of the previous trading day.

Gains were dwarfed by losses by 252 to 556 in Shanghai, but the former

outnumbered the latter by 355 to 348 in Shenzhen.