China's stocks close 1.2 pct lower in morning session

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- China's stocks finished 1.18 percent lower in the morning trade on Monday, as no concrete measures were unveiled over the weekend to support the market.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index extended a two-day losing streak, ending 32.51 points lower at 2,715.92 on Monday morning.

The index opened 0.87 percent, or 24.03 points lower at 2,724.40 before climbing as much as 0.67 percent to 2,766.80.

On Friday, it tumbled 5.29 percent to close at 2,748.43 on news of oil price increase and Ever bright Securities' pending initial public offering (IPO).

Investor confidence has been hard hit by the steep decline since October. The key Shanghai index has fallen more than 55 percent from its all time high of 6,124.04 in mid-October.

The volatility would continue for some time amid fears over slower economic growth and further tightening measures to ease inflation, said analysts. But they believed the decline would be limited given the current relatively reasonable valuations of the stocks.