A sudden plunge in Chinese stocks Thursday led to selloffs in some of the best performing mainland shares of the past year, capping a month in which Shanghai’s predominantly blue-chip market trailed Shenzhen.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index gained 11.69 points, or 0.1%, to 20,563.15, rising for a 11th day in a row,
The U.S. dollar was drifting lower against the yen in Asia trade Friday, with some investors locking in profits ahead of the weekend following this week’s high-profile rally.
The dollar was at ¥123.77, compared with ¥123.95 late Thursday in New York.
The greenback ratcheted down from its earlier levels, finding support around ¥123.60 midday.
But the level was still much higher than the ¥121.50 mark it was hovering around at the start of the week. At one point in the rally, the American dollar touched ¥124.46, its highest since Dec. 5, 2002.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index fell 30.12, or 0.1%, to 27,424.19,
CHINA
The Shanghai CSI 300 recovered 6.82 points, or 0.1 %, to 4,840.83, after Thursday’s loss of more than 300 points.
The Shanghai benchmark briefly fell into correction territory earlier Friday—off more than 10% from its recent high at Wednesday’s close—before paring losses.
On Friday, I.T., health care and consumer stocks helped prop up Shanghai. Among the largest contributors were Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, up 10% and at the daily limit, and baijiu maker Kweichow Moutai, up 1%.
Selling continued in energy, financials and industrial stocks. PetroChina Co. Ltd., China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. and China Railway Group were all down, at 2.3%, 1.8% and 3.9%, respectively. Still, the three stocks have been among firms helping the benchmark rally the most the past year.
The gains there illustrate a continued preference from locals for small to mid-cap firms, a trend that began around the turn of the year.
That has helped the Shenzhen market balloon to $4.3 trillion U.S., a size comparable to that of the Hong Kong stock exchange.
Flows to Chinese stock funds totaled $4.58 billion U.S. in the week ending May 27, a sharp acceleration from $1.4 billion U.S. the previous week, according to ANZ data.
Trading among locals is already at its highest ever. Turnover in the mainland market fell to 1.85 trillion yuan Friday, but topped two trillion yuan in each of the past three sessions.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 3.91 points, or 0.2%, to 2,114.80
In Taiwan, the Taiex subtracted 11.77 points, or 0.1%, to 9,701.07
In Singapore, the Straits Times index dipped 25.66 points, or 0.8%, to 3,392.11
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 shot higher 67.31 points, or 1.2%, to 5,844.95
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 moved higher 64.07 points, or 1.1%, to 5,777.16
