Last checked at 
* HSI -0.8 pct, H-shares -1.4 pct, CSI300 -2.2 pct
* Industrial Bank may have halted property loans- officialShanghai newspaper
* China Vanke tests 5-year low; cement, banks dive too
* Belle International soars after improved 2013 earnings
By Clement Tan
HONG KONG, Feb 24 (Reuters) - China shares suffered theirbiggest loss in seven weeks on Monday, hurting Hong Kongmarkets, after mainland news reports stoked fears that bankshave tightened loans to property developers.
Monday's losses, which erased a recent rebound for Chineseproperty shares, were rooted in fears of new moves byauthorities in their four-year campaign to rein in risks of apossible asset-bubble as home prices have surged.
"I would get out of interest rate-sensitive sectors. It'svery hard to navigate right now with policy risk on the rise,"said Hong Hao, Hong Kong-based chief equity strategist at Bankof Communication International.
"Property prices in many cities are still rising and that'snot a good sign coming ahead of the annual parliamentarymeetings," Hong added.
Those meetings are due to start March 5 in Beijing.
The Shanghai Composite Index finished down 1.8percent, while the CSI300 of the biggest Shanghai andShenzhen A-share listings sank 2.2 percent. For both, this wastheir largest one-day loss since Jan. 6.
The China Enterprises Index of leading Chineselistings in Hong Kong slid 1.4 percent. The Hang Seng Index sank 0.8 percent to 22,388.6 points, slipping back belowits 200-day moving average, which it held for most of last week.
All four indexes finished off the day's lows, and volumesslowed in afternoon trade. In Shanghai and Hong Kong, losersoutnumbered gainers about 2-1.
China Vanke, the largest property developer bysales, dropped 6.6 percent in Shenzhen after plumbing its lowestin more than five years. Poly Real Estate slumped8.5 percent in Shanghai, whose property sub-index slid5.4 percent, its biggest loss in eight months.
Country Garden and Shimao Property tanked 8.3 and 7.8 percent, respectively. Blue chip ChinaResources Land dived 5.7 percent.
The official Shanghai Securities News reported on Mondaythat Industrial Bank and other banks may havestopped extending some loans to property developers andtightened lending to other property-related sectors such assteel, cement and construction.
Local media reported several banks issued denials. Mid-sizedIndustrial Bank did not respond to calls from Reuters seekingcomment, but Bank of America-Merrill Lynch China economists saidthe types of financing stopped should account for only a smallpart of Industrial Bank's property-sector exposure.
Still, Industrial Bank shares declined 3.7 percent inShanghai, while China's biggest cement producer Anhui ConchCement tumbled about 5 percent in both HongKong and Shanghai.
In January, average new home prices in China's 70 majorcities rose 9.6 percent from a year earlier, easing from theprevious month's 9.9 percent rise, according to Reuterscalculations based on data released by the National Bureau ofStatistics (NBS) on Monday.
In a front page editorial on Monday, the official ChinaSecurities Journal said that unusually high investment inChina's property market over the past decade will "for certain"cool as part of the broader slowdown in the world'ssecond-largest economy.
EARNINGS FOCUS
Shares of China-focused shoe retailer Belle International surged almost 6 percent in Hong Kong after it said2013 net profit rose 3.2 percent. That buoyed rival DaphneInternational, whose shares rose 4 percent.
HSBC Holdings shares slipped 0.5 percentin Hong Kong ahead of its 2013 full year profit after marketclose, which at $22.6 billion was lower than expected. ItsLondon shares were down 4.7 percent at 0850 GMT.
In the last 30 days, nine of 31 analysts downgraded their2013 earnings-per-share estimates for HSBC by an average of 5.5percent, according to StarMine.
