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1st LD-Writethru: China stocks ride roller coaster on Friday

Xinhua, April 21, 2017 Adjust font size:

Chinese stocks closed mixed in roller coaster trading on Friday, with the Shanghai market recovering from losses at the end of the trading day.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 0.03 percent at 3,173.15 points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.43 percent lower at 10,314.35 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses stood at 382.5 billion yuan (55.6 billion U.S. dollars), down from 464.9 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, ended 0.62 percent lower at 1,839.01 points.

The Shanghai index fell in the afternoon trading session as profit-taking in Xiongan-related stocks and tighter regulatory scrutiny weighed on investor sentiment.

Xiongan-related stocks tumbled after a senior government official warned against speculation in property and stocks.

On April 1, China announced plans to create Xiongan New Area, a new economic zone spanning three counties in Hebei Province. The new area, some 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, is expected to help address the "urban ills" of traffic congestion and air pollution in Beijing by curbing the capital's population growth and moving non-capital functions out of Beijing.

Investors were also dampened by tighter liquidity concerns as the government intensified the battle against speculative trading and riskier financial practices.

Top securities regulator Liu Shiyu last weekend urged stock exchanges to "brandish their sword" and punish market misbehavior "without mercy."

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has been toughening supervision and punishment of illegal market activities such as insider trading and stock manipulation after the market rout in 2015 shattered investor confidence.

The CSRC slapped a 3.47 billion yuan fine on a company chairman in March for stock market manipulation, a record high.

However, the index was buoyed by shares related to medical treatment, the banking sector as well as iron and steel by the end of daily trading. Endi