COSCO drops to 9-month low on loss in H1

China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd, the country's largest listed shipping company, fell to a nine-month low on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange after saying its preliminary first-half loss widened more than 50 percent as a shipping glut weakened rates.

The fleet operator dropped by as much as 4.3 percent to HK$3.15 ($0.41) before trading at HK$3.17 as of the noon trading break, the lowest level since Oct 10.

Slowing global economic growth, including in China, and fuel costs that have remained high contributed to the record expansion of losses, the shipping company said in a statement on Friday after the market closed. Losses will widen by half from the 2.8 billion yuan ($439 million) deficit for the six months that ended June 30, according to the preliminary earnings report.