Singapore state-investment firm Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd sold $2.48 billion worth of stakes in Chinese state-owned lenders Bank of China Ltd. (BoC, 601398.SH, 3988.HK) and China Construction Bank Corp. (CCB, 601939.SH, 0939.HK) in placements priced at the low end of indicative ranges, after Chinese banks recently announced high profits.

According to the report, Temasek sold 3.079 billion Hong Kong-listed shares in Bank of China at HK$3.13 ($0.4) each, representing the bottom end of an indicative price range of HK$3.13 to HK$3.18, or a 4 percent discount to BoC’s Wednesday closing price of HK$3.26.

Also, Temasek sold 1.6 billion Hong Kong-traded shares in CCB at HK$5.99 each, representing the bottom end of an indicative price range of a HK$5.99 to HK$6.10, or a 2.8 percent discount to the stock's Wednesday closing price of HK$6.16.

CCB and BoC are China’s No.2 and No. 4 largest lenders by assets, respectively.

BoC said last week that profit growth slowed to 10 percent in the first quarter as the Chinese economy decelerated, and CCB had the slowest earnings growth in more than 2 years. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world's largest lender by value that Temasek invested in last month, extended its lead as the most profitable global bank after posting a 14 percent increase in earnings. (Bloomberg)

"The move is partly to prepare for other opportunities that may arise in China and elsewhere," said Jeffrey Fang, a spokesman at Temasek. "Temasek continues to see Chinese banks as proxies for the Chinese economy and the country's rising middle income."

Michael Werner, an analyst at Sanford Bernstein, told the Wall Street Journal the sale of BoC and CCB shares reflected a "rotation" on Temasek's part, as it comes just a month after the state investment firm bought $2.3 billion worth of ICBC’s Hong Kong-listed shares, giving it a 1.1 percent in the lender.

"So their exposure to the Chinese banks has remained the same, it's just that they have added ICBC and cut BOC and CCB," Werner said. "I would view this as a negative for BoC as it seems Temasek is happy to continue reducing their position in BoC as they once held a 4.1 percent stake in the bank and that's now down to 1.05 percent."

Domestic investors have expressed puzzlement that foreign institutional investors are cutting stakes in state-run banks just as domestic retail investors are gleefully eyeing the banks’ massive equity issues.