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Chinese stocks slipped early Friday, but the fall was checked by soaring brokerage shares and a key index could produce its best week this year as small investors stayed bullish.
The main indices both rose over 2 per cent before investors booked profits, particularly on property shares that earlier surged on speculation Beijing would ease policy further.
At the end of the morning, the CSI300 index was off 0.6 per cent at 3,084.98 points and the Shanghai Composite Index also lost 0.6 per cent, to 2,881.28 points.
The Nasdaq-style ChiNext Composite Index of mostly high tech start-ups listed in Shenzhen slumped 3.3 per cent.
“There is strong profit-taking pressure, with the index set to hit 3,000 points and after such a big jump,’’ said Zhang Yanbin, analyst at Zheshang Securities in Shanghai.
The real estate sub-index of the CSI300 fell 3.1 per cent but remained up over 4 per cent for the week.
Haitong Securities, Hong Yuan Securities and Southwest Securities rose their 10 per cent daily limits.
The Shanghai Composite and CSI300 leapt around 20 per cent during a bull run the past nine days after China's first interest rate cut in more than two years.
The CSI300 is up over 9 per cent this week and the SSEC 7 per cent.
But volatility has also risen. Ten-day volatility on the CSI300 stood at over 30 on Friday, its highest since a cash crunch of 2013 saw indexes tank.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 0.7 per cent, to 24,007.69 points, mainly supported by overseas flows, with financials leading gains. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index gained 1.1 per cent, to 11,611.39.
For the week, the indexes were up 0.1 per cent and 4.2 per cent, respectively.
“Overseas money inflows added to the momentum, leading to a high turnover today,’’ said Linus Yip, chief strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong shares of dual-listed Chinese firms continued to trade at sharp discounts to onshore versions, with the A-H share premium index hovering near a 17-month high.
The index was down about 0.14 percent at 113.72. A value over 100 indicates that shares in dual-listed companies are cheaper in Hong Kong than in Shanghai.
Total volume of A-shares traded in Shanghai was 43.73 billion shares, while Shenzhen had 21.08 billion shares.
Official data showed Chinese retail investors, who conduct 60-80 per cent of mainland stock trades, opened over a million brokerage accounts in November, up 280 per cent from a year earlier.
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