Shares up while losers outnumber gainers

Chinese stocks edged up on Friday, led by securities and tech shares.

At close, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.38 percent to 2,917.01points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index increased 0.48 percent to 10,916.31 points. The blue chip CSI300 Index advanced 0.70 percent to close at 3,987.73points.

Trading volume on the two major bourses totaled 813.0 billion yuan (US$116.38 billion), shrinking a little from the previous session’s 871.1 billion.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 782 to 729 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,163 to 969 in Shenzhen.

Securities shares led the gains, with all 42 securities shares increasing by 1.76 percent on average. Guoyuan Securities Co Ltd increased 9.31 percent, Citic Securities Co Ltd gained 1.91 percent.

So far, 25 A-share listed securities firms have released performance data for January this year, with a total revenue of 16.468 billion yuan, increasing 6.7 percent year on year.

Guoyuan Securities was the largest percentage gainer in the securities sector, with revenue in January reaching 414 million yuan, down 19.6 percent month on month but up 58. 3 percent year on year. Net profit totaled 288 million yuan, up 425 percent month on month and 263 percent year on year.

Tech shares continued their strong performance, including shares related to 5G, semi-conductors and microchips.

In the 5G sector, Shenzhen Gongjin Electronics Co Ltd, Sichuan Tianyi Comheart Telecom Co Ltd, Sichuan Haite High-Tech Co Ltd and Xi'an Tian He Defense Technology Co Ltd all surged by the daily limit of 10 percent.

The gain in 5G shares was attributed to the role it played in epidemic control and prevention, such as remote medical consultation based on the 5G network, smart robots and high definition broadcasts.

In the semiconductor sector, StarPower Semiconductor Ltd, ShenZhen Fine Made Electronics Group Co Ltd and Fuzhou Rockchip Electronics Co Ltd all hit daily limit.

Sinolink Securities noted that semiconductors will be in short supply in 2020 which will keep its share price rising.

Haitong Securities said tech shares and securities will be major shares promoting gains in A share market. Supply-side reform in financial field will boost broker’s profits.

Telecommunication operators suffered the day’s biggest loss.

On the SSE STAR Market, 20 of the 84 listed companies posted gains, with BrightGene Bio-Medical Technology Co Ltd leading gains on the STAR board.