SHANGHAI: China's major stock indexes ended slightly higher on Friday, but posted their worst quarterly losses in two years, as the country's fund managers slashed equity exposure amid China-US trade tensions.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.3 percent at 3,168.90, while the blue-chip CSI300 index CSI300 index inched up 0.1 percent to 3,898.50.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 1.29 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 3.16 percent.
For the week, SSEC gained 0.5 percent, while CSI300 slipped 0.2 percent.
For the quarter, SSEC and CSI300 slumped 4.2 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively, their worst quarterly falls since March 2016.
Worrying that the China-US trade spat could bring uncertainties to the world's second largest economy and its capital markets, Chinese fund managers slashed their suggested equity exposure for the next three months to an 18-month low.
China warned the United States on Thursday not to open Pandora's Box and spark a flurry of protectionist practices across the globe, even as Beijing pointed to US goods that it could target in a deepening Sino-US trade dispute.
"Market participants are starting to worry about (China's) economic growth and liquidity conditions for the whole year of 2018, given the fallout from China-US trade tensions, financial regulations and Beijing's deleveraging efforts," said a South China-based fund manager.
The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Inesa Intelligent Tech Inc up 10.06 percent, followed by Wuhan DDMC Culture Co Ltd gaining 10.03 percent and Grinm Advanced Materials Co Ltd up by 10.01 percent.
The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Winsan Shanghai Medical Science and Technology Co Ltd down 4.99 percent, followed by Sinopec Oilfield Service Corp losing 4.69 percent and Shenyang Commercial City Co Ltd down by 4.02 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.