China shares steady

China stocks were largely steady on Friday, with investor optimism over strong corporate earnings and economic fundamentals offsetting some pressure to take profits from recent gains. The blue-chip CSI300 index tacked on 0.1 percent, to 3,725.09 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index was unchanged at 3,269.24 points.
The CSI300 gained 2.1 percent for the week and the Shanghai Composite rose 1.9 percent, its best week in more than four months. Despite the weak performance on Friday, analysts said they see reason to believe the market's recent gains will continue. "We're in the midst of a blue-chip rebound, with relatively low volatility. This is supported by a number of factors including strong data, MSCI inclusion and continued reform," said Pan Shaochang, an analyst at Dongguan Securities.
"There is some resistance for the Shanghai index at 3,300 points, but I expect it to break through soon," he said. China Nuclear Engineering Corp Ltd continued to build on its recent rises, jumping the daily limit of 10 percent to bring its weekly gains to 24.5 percent. On Wednesday, the company said that newly signed contracts in the first seven months increased 17.2 percent from the previous year.
Technology shares performed poorly overall, with the tech-heavy ChiNext index losing 0.6 percent after rising for four consecutive days. For the week, the ChiNext index rose 4.6 percent. Aluminum Corp of China Ltd trimmed its recent gains to end down 4.4 percent on Friday as investors locked in recent gains. The shares of China's largest aluminium producer fell despite it announcing that first-half net profit rose more than tenfold year-on-year, driven by high aluminium prices. China CSI300 stock index futures for August rose 0.3 percent, to 3,725.2, 0.11 points above the current value of the underlying index.