China stocks closed mixed on Friday as food and beverage shares gained on announced reforms to the country's one-child policy rule, but manufacturing lagged. The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen was unchanged at 3,534.08, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.1 percent, to 3,382.56 points.
Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Meiyan Jixiang , down 5.9 percent to 8.55 yuan; Citic, up 3.7 percent to 15.86 yuan and Yili Company, up 2.4 percent to 15.93 yuan. In Shenzhen, Tongling NFM, down 4.7 percent to 3.90 yuan; Suning Appliance, up 1.9 percent to 16.26 yuan and BOE Technology, down 0.7 percent to 2.98 yuan were among the most actively traded.
Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 24.2 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 29.6 billion shares.
All couples would be allowed to have two children under the new policy, the government said late on Thursday. For most of the past several decades, most Chinese families were only permitted one child, although restrictions were eased in 2013.
Equities were lifted by food and beverage manufacturing stocks, particularly dairy, and by the finance sector which had sold off heavily in recent days. Real estate and information technology stocks also moved higher.
"Obviously this is a big deal for the economy in the long term," said Zhang Yanbing, an analyst at Zheshang Securities in Shanghai.
"Dairy and baby-related stocks are all benefiting, and I expect real estate, education and healthcare to also get some support."
Beingmate, a Shenzhen-listed manufacturer of baby foods, was limit-up 10 percent, and other dairy stocks including Yili Company were also up sharply.
A value above 100 indicates Shanghai shares are pricing at a premium to shares in the same company trading in Hong Kong, and vice versa.
The northbound quota for the Hong Kong-Shanghai Stock Connect, currently set at 13 billion yuan, saw net outflows of 0.58 billion yuan.