Chinese stocks close higher on financial shares

BEIJING - Chinese shares rallied on Friday lifted by financial heavyweights, ending a week of modest gains.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.62 percent to close at 2,979.43 points while the smaller Shenzhen index gained 0.54 percent to close at 10,339.68 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses fell sharply to 550 billion yuan ($84.3 billion), compared with 730 billion yuan the previous trading day.

The benchmark Shanghai index wobbled during the day before jumping near the closing bell, with securities companies and insurance firms leading the gains.

Major insurer China Life Insurance, for example, saw its shares up 2.14 percent.

The A-share market saw impressive recovery in the past two weeks with more liquidity pumped in.

Data from EPFR, a provider of fund flow data, showed that $1.12 billion flowed into the Chinese markets this week, the highest amount since July 2015.

Exchange Traded Funds (ETF), some of which track the A-share indexes, also saw continuous money inflow, according to EPFR.

In the long run, stocks are still better choices to invest in as there is a shortage of high return assets, said Guotai Junan Securities.

On Friday, the ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.17 percent to close at 2,216.09 points.