Chemical and consumer firms lead decline

Shanghai stocks continued to decline on Friday, led by chemical and consumer firms.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.89 percent to close at 2,813.77 points. For the whole week, the gauge retreated 1.62 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen index was down 2.22 percent to 10,604.97 points while the blue chip CSI300 Index closed 2.29 percent lower at 3,824.06 points.

The startup board ChiNext Composite Index was weaker by 2.52 percent to 2,046.6 points.

Investors turned cautious after the Hang Seng Index dropped more than 5 percent. Market sentiment was weak after the index hit its lowest since April 3 in the morning session.

Turnover on the two major bourses added up to 592.7 billion yuan (US$83.1 billion), a decline of 33.5 billion yuan compared with 626.2 billion yuan the previous trading day. Turnover on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was 245.2 billion yuan, a fall of 5.4 billion yuan from the previous trading day’s 250.6 billion yuan.

On the two major bourses, the stocks of 48 listed companies surged by over 9 percent, while 34 declined by more than 9 percent.

In the A-share market, pharmaceutical, brokerage and mining companies were also among the biggest decliners.

Among the 105 firms on the STAR Market, 17 closed higher, one remained flat, while the rest retreated. Linkage Software Co Ltd dropped 8.94 percent to become the biggest decliner.

Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co Ltd fell 7.79 percent to 15.27 yuan and Wuhan East Lake High Technology Group Co Ltd retreated 7.05 percent to 6.33 yuan.