Chinese shares close mixed, Shanghai down 0.71 percent

Chinese share prices closed mixed on Friday with the Shanghai bourse down 0.71 percent on profit taking after the market posted the biggest gain in more than six years the day before, dealers said.

But shares of listed brokerages continued to surge, bucking the trend on hopes that a cut in stamp duty from 0.3 percent to 0.1 percent, announced late Wednesday, would directly benefits their business, they said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, closed down 25.28 points at 3,557.75 with heavy turnover of 184.7 billion yuan (26.4 billion dollars).

The Shanghai A-share Index was down 26.75 points or 0.71 percent to 3,732.85 on turnover of 183.9 billion yuan. The Shenzhen A-share Index gained 16.00 points or 1.46 percent to 1,110.48 on turnover of 75.3 billion yuan.

(Agencies)