Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses endured steep declines last week, sparked by news that Shanghai's international board is close to launching.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended trading Friday at 2,709.95, down 148.5 points or 5.20 percent over five days of trading; while the Shenzhen Component Index posted a 5.50 percent drop for the week to close Friday at 11,492.7 points.

The combined turnover for the week of the two markets was 158.86 billion yuan ($24.47 billion), compared to 162.83 billion yuan the previous week.

Investor concern that A-shares may be dwarfed by the yuan-denominated international board and fears over slowing economic growth dented last Monday's trading.

Matters were worsened by the European debt crisis, China's mounting inflationary pressure in May and the second quarter as a whole, the inflow of capital under restraint, a torrent of refinancing by a list of companies and a huge slash in holdings by big share-holders.

Stocks from the light manufacturing, home appliance, catering and tourism, medicine and biotech industries saw the sharpest losses last week, with each area decreasing by more than 9 percent.

Mining and financial service companies were hurt the least last week, and even managed to rally slightly towards the end of the week.

Market analysts told the National Business Daily that anticipation of crop failures brought by the drought in southern and eastern China will probably boost agricultural stocks as the prices of their products will be pushed up.