Shanghai stocks end the week with a loss

Shanghai stocks retreated on Friday from an earlier rally to end the week with a nearly 3 percent weekly loss.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.77 percent to 3,347.19 points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index plunged 1.28 percent to end at 13,555.14 points.

The STAR 50 Index, meanwhile, gained 0.2 percent to 1,362.96 points, mainly led by the 174.3 percent surge of Hangzohu Toka Ink Co which got listed on Friday, while the ChiNext Composite Index closed 1.13 percent lower at 2,687.78 points.

Total trading volume on the two bourses expanded sharply to 834.9 billion yuan (US$127.64 billion), compared with 709.2 billion yuan in the previous session. Among them, the Shanghai Stock Exchange posted a turnover of 379.8 billion yuan, up 58.2 billion yuan.

Capital turned to flow out of Chinese mainland, with a net outflow of 3.97 billion yuan via the Stock Connect schemes linking Shanghai and Shenzhen with Hong Kong, of which the Shanghai market saw a net outflow of 1 billion yuan.

In terms of sectors, culture and media shares led the declines. Focus Media Information Technology Co slumped by the daily limit of 10 percent, while H&R Century Union Corp fell nearly 8 percent. 

Iron and steel shares also retreated from gains in the previous session after prices of iron ore kept jumping for days. Shengtak New Materials Co lost over 6 percent, while Tianjin You Fa Steel Pipe Group Stock Co and Jiangsu Wujin Stainless Steel Pipe Group Co both shed over 4 percent.

Shares related to Apple Inc, rare earth element and the sea transport sector were also among big decliners.

Soybean stocks, meanwhile, performed strongly, with Zhongnongfa Seed Industry Group up over 5 percent, after the National Statistics Bureau released data showing soybean production to date up 8.3 percent year on year.

Engineering machinery firms, auto companies and the petrochemical sector also posted rises.

For the week, the Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.83 percent, with turnover on the Shanghai bourse shrinking to 1.68 trillion yuan from 1.9 trillion yuan last week.