U.S.-listed Chinese firms trade mostly higher

NEW YORK, May 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher on Thursday, with seven of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.

Shares of BeiGene and shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group, rose 2.74 percent and 1.88 percent respectively, leading the advancers in the top 10 stocks of the index, while shares of JD.com fell 1.73 percent as the biggest laggard among the 10 stocks.

At Thursday's close, shares of Alibaba and shares of Baidu, another two Chinese famous tech giants listed in the U.S. equity market, added 0.02 percent and 0.38 percent, respectively.

U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday after U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that the country will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imported from the European Union (EU), Canada and Mexico starting Friday.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 251.94 points, or 1.02 percent, to 24,415.84. The S&P 500 was down 18.74 points, or 0.69 percent, to 2,705.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 20.34 points, or 0.27 percent, to 7,442.12.

The Cboe Volatility index, widely considered the best fear gauge in the stock market, rose 3.28 percent to 15.43 on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index stood at 3,194.02, marking a 4.33-percent gain for the month-to-date returns and a 3.33-percent increase for the year-to-date returns. Enditem