Chinese equities fell sharply Tuesday morning with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index tumbling 2.62 percent or 60.36 points to 2245.42, echoing the overnight Wall Street setbacks.

The Shenzhen index slid 1.94 percent or 169.67 points to 8,558.03.

Losses outnumbered gains by 725 to 152 in Shanghai and 637 to 119 in Shenzhen.

Shenzhen Development Bank (SDB), a mid-size commercial lender, said in an announcement Tuesday that it would suspend trading as the bank was verifying Monday's reports that the China Development Bank was conducting stake purchase talks with Newbridge Capital, SDB's largest shareholder.

The shares of the Shenzhen-based SDB exceeded the daily limit of 10 percent to 14.99 yuan on Monday. The rise was spurred by the market hearsay.

"The shares of the company will resume trading after we deliver a clarification announcement," said SDB.

The Shenzhen-listed A-shares of Chang'an Automobile, China's third -largest auto marker in terms of sales volume, jumped 10 percent on Tuesday morning to 7.15 yuan.

The southwestern Chongqing-based auto manufacturer exceeded the daily limit of 10 percent for the seventh consecutive trading day as of Tuesday, as investors were heartened by the news that the company would buy back up to 423 million of its foreign-currency denominated B-shares.

(Xinhua News Agency February 24, 2009)