New | Chinese stocks down by midday close on weakness in banks and insurance firms

Mainland Chinese equities skidded lower by the close of morning trade on Friday morning, extending their prior day’s fall as investors continued to sell large-cap stocks in banks and insurance companies as exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen are on track to post double-digit losses for the month of July.

Hong Kong stocks managed to eke out a small gain, driven by a rally in Macau casino stocks following a solid performance of their US-listed peers overnight before the release of Macau’s July gross gaming revenue.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 1 per cent to end the morning trade at 3,669.45. The CSI 300 Index of large-cap companies was little changed, giving up 0.08 per cent to 3,812.34.

The Shenzhen Composite Index shed 0.42 per cent to settle midday at 2,119.24, while the ChiNext Board dipped 0.24 per cent to 2,555.07.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.40 per cent to 24,595.51 at the close this morning, driven by casino duo Galaxy Entertainment and Sands China, while the H-share Index increased 0.49 per cent to 11,191.86.

“The market traded sideways to slightly bearish for the entire morning session with investors apparently struggling to guess the direction of the market,” said Gerry Alfonso, a director of Shenwan Hongyuan Securities in Shanghai.