China's benchmark stock index closed down 0.8 per cent in thin year-end trading on Thursday under pressure from a cash crunch in the country's money market,with large-cap financial,property and energy stocks active. The Shanghai Composite Index ended at 2,855.2 points,continuing a trend over the past several weeks of moving narrowly around the 250-day moving average,now at 2,852. China's benchmark money market rate jumped nearly 150 basis points to a fresh more than two-year high on Thursday,as traders cited an acute shortage of funds after a series of monetary tightening steps.
