China stocks fall amid Taiwan tensions; 10 blue-chips soar on debut

BEIJING: China shares fell on Monday amid heightened geopolitical tensions around the Taiwan Strait, but the first batch of blue-chips to float under a U.S-style listing system surged on their debut. The Hong Kong market is closed for the Easter holiday.

** The blue-chip CSI300 Index fell 0.3% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.2%.

** Risk appetite was curbed by a flare-up in geopolitical tensions, after China's military simulated precision strikes against Taiwan in a second day of drills around the island on Sunday.

** China began three days of military exercises after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen returned from a brief visit to the United States.

** Bucking the broad market tepidness, 10 Chinese stocks jumped on their debut which marks the full roll-out of China's registration-based IPO mechanism.

** Shenzhen CECport Technologies Co, an electronic components distributor based in the southern technology hub Shenzhen, opened up 161%, and surged as much as 239%, following its 2.25 billion yuan ($327.18 million) IPO.

** Dencare Chongqing Oral Care Co, an oral products maker, opened up 98% and soared as much as 214%. Other companies, including Shaanxi Energy Investment Co, Both Engineering Technology Co, also rose between 50% and 120%.

** Investors cheered the introduction of the new IPO system to the main board. The system had previously been adopted by Shanghai's tech-focused STAR Market, Shenzhen's start-up board ChiNext and the Beijing Stock Exchange for small companies.

** Elsewhere, the STAR 50 Index fell from eight-month highs, on track to break a seven-day rising streak.

** Artificial Intelligence stocks slumped more than 3% from 14-month highs as the ChatGPT mania shows signs of cooling.

** An index tracking defense stocks rose 0.3%.