(Bloomberg) -- China’s regulatory clampdown on corporate sectors widened further with liquor makers, online pharmacies and cosmetics firms joining the growing list of potential targets, dealing a further blow to sentiment.
Distillers led a 2.2% decline in the benchmark CSI 300 Index, with Kweichow Moutai Co. plunging as much as 4.3%, after the Securities Times reported on a notice asking baijiu firm representatives to attend a Friday meeting to discuss market order in the industry. Other baijiu names slumped, with Wuliangye Yibin Co. dropping 5.5% and Shanxi Xinghuacun Fen Wine Factory Co. tumbling 6.7%.
State media also turned up the heat on the cosmetic surgery industry, calling for better oversight in the face of incomplete regulations and growing medical disputes. Bloomage Biotechnology Corp. tumbled 7% while Imeik Technology Development Co. sank 9.6%. Ping An Healthcare & Technology Co. dropped by as much as 14%, set for the worst day on record. Online health care stocks also declined, with JD (NASDAQ:JD) Health International Inc. down 10% after the People’s Daily urged stepping up protection and guarantee of prescription drugs sold through the internet.
The plunge in these new sectors comes at a time when investors have become super-sensitive about which companies will be the target next of official scrutiny. Over the past weeks, there’s been selloffs in everything from private tutoring firms to e-cigarettes, games and infant formula amid a new regulatory drive stressing social equality over efficiency.
Foreigners net sold 5.9 billion yuan ($907 million) worth of mainland shares via the trading links as of 11:11 a.m. in Shanghai, after dumping 10.7 billion yuan on Thursday, most this month.
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