DHAKA: Mainland Chinese shares continued to head lower on Thursday, leading the rest of Asia down as concerns over the market's steep slide spread.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite was down 3.6% to 3,380.31 points despite aggressive measures by regulators such as banning big investors from selling stocks to boost the flagging market.

Chinese shares have lost more than 30% of their value in the past month.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.5% to 23,369.23 in early trade, reports bbc.com

The Chinese government continued to roll out more measures on Thursday by trying to ease margin loan requirements.

The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) said it would allow financial institutions to renegotiate maturity terms regarding lending, using stock as collateral, and allow banks to ease margin requirements for borrowers.

China's inflation data for June did little to boost sentiment for investors, with the pace of consumer inflation quickening to 1.4% from a year ago, beating market expectations of 1.3%.

BDST: 0850 HRS, JULY 09, 2015
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