SHANGHAI: Chinese stocks were mixed on Friday and looked set to end the week roughly flat, as heightened regulatory efforts to curb speculative trading tempered risk appetite.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index dropped 0.4% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.3%.
Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng was up 0.3%.
The CSI300 Index and the Hang Seng Index have both fallen 0.5% so far this week.
Over the past week, Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges each took regulatory measures against hundreds of abnormal trading practices such price pumping and false orders.
The bourses also launched probes into several listed companies over allegedly misleading statements.
The measures reflect regulators’ intention to slow the pace of market gains. Last week, China tightened margin financing requirements after the Shanghai market hit decade-highs in record turnover.
“Despite the latest tightening measures, we continue to believe that liquidity support for both A shares and the Hong Kong market can be sustained, at least through the first quarter,” analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note.
“Reallocations from bonds and term deposits, together with steady insurance inflows remain the core drivers of improving A share liquidity,” they said.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong shares hit a near three-month high on a report to list its chip-making arm T-Head.
Non-ferrous metal shares rose 2.1%, while defense shares climbed 3.6%,leading gains onshore.
Artificial intelligence shares dropped 1.2%.
Tech majors traded in Hong Kong edged up 0.1%. ‑Reuters
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