China stocks open down 3 pct on quake, reserve hike

SHANGHAI, May 13 (Reuters) - China's benchmark stock index opened down more than 3 percent on Tuesday, led by banking stocks on uncertainty following a deadly earthquake in southwest China on Monday and the central bank's announcement of the fourth bank reserve ratio hike this year.

The Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC opened down 3.07 percent at 3,515.711 points, with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (601398.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the country's top lender, falling 2.6 percent to 6.00 yuan.

China Life Insurance (601628.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) fell 7 percent to 30.88 yuan.

A magnitude 7.9 earthquake struck southwest China's Sichuan Province a half hour before Monday's market close and was felt as far away as Shanghai and Beijing, causing many highrise buildings in Shanghai's financial district to be evacuated.

The death toll from the quake has reached nearly 10,000 in Sichuan Province alone.

China's main stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen have suspended trade in 66 shares of companies in the Sichuan area, the largest trading suspension in the bourses' 18-year history.

The central bank also announced after Monday's market close that it would raise banks' reserve requirement ratios by 0.5 percent, bringing the rate for large banks to a record 16.5 percent, as it seeks to keep inflation under control.

The government had announced on Monday a pickup in consumer price inflation in April to an annual rate of 8.5 percent from March's 8.3 percent, near a 12-year peak of 8.7 percent hit in February. (Reporting by Lu Jianxin; Editing by Edmund Klamann)