SHANGHAI'S stock market closed slightly lower yesterday following the release of China's inflation data for December.

The Shanghai Composite Index extended Wednesday's loss, dipping 0.05 percent to end at 2,275.01 points.

China's Consumer Price Index, a general gauge of inflation, rose 4.1 percent year on year in December, its pace slowing for a fifth consecutive month to a 15-month low, the National Statistics Bureau announced yesterday.

Although the CPI's 5.4 percent annual growth was above the 4 percent target set by the government early last year, the inflation has been easing since August, which indicated that the government's efforts at stopping price hikes were paying off.

The bureau also released China's Producer Price Index, a major measure of inflation at the wholesale level, yesterday. The PPI rose 1.7 percent year on year in December, the slowest pace in two years.

Resource stocks fell on oversupply worries. Yanzhou Coal Mining lost 1.34 percent to 24.22 yuan (US$3.83). China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, better known as Sinopec, shed 0.52 percent to 7.66 yuan.

Brokerages also fell. CITIC Securities lost 0.5 percent to 10.03 yuan, and Sinolink Securities fell 0.88 percent to 10.13 yuan.