Even the Chinese cannot always read the tea leaves. The latest lucrative wheeze dreamed up by the country's three big internet portals sending horoscopes to mobile phone subscribers via text message - has fallen foul of the authorities. Superstition is one thing that still makes the Communist party see red.

Add in the fact that China Mobile, whose network carries most of the portals' clever messaging services, wants a bigger slice of future revenues, and Sina.com, the market leader, now forecasts a 24 per cent decline in sequential revenues for the current quarter. Since investors had been expecting growth, that sent its shares down 15 per cent on Tuesday. Netease, which has yet to report results, also lost ground.