Shanghai stocks recouped losses to end flat on Friday, as better-than-expected exports brought some relief to investors looking for signs of stabilization in the world's second-largest economy.
The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.2 percent, to 3,988.62 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index ended flat at 3,188.63 points.
For the week, SSEC fell 1.8 percent, while CSI300 also shed 1.8 percent, snapping a four-week winning streak.
China's exports rebounded in March, but imports shrank for a fourth straight month and at a sharper pace, painting a mixed picture of the economy, as trade talks with the United States reach their endgame.
Investors are hoping for more signs of economic recovery in China to temper worries about slowing global growth, after the IMF this week downgraded its 2019 world outlook for the third time.
A bigger-than-expected slowdown in China's economy is among key risks to global growth, International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Mitsuhiro Furusawa warned, as G20 finance leaders gather to discuss a darkening world economic outlook.
"The overall valuations of the A-share market and Chinese stocks listed offshore are not yet expensive, though the extent of the valuations recovery is relatively evident," investment bank CICC said in report.
The A-share market rally this year is mainly attributed to valuations expansion rather than a pick-up in corporate earnings, CICC pointed out.
About 28.98 billion shares traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 69.8 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 41.52 billion shares a day. The volume in the previous trading session was 35.30 billion. As of 07:16 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 25.26 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 27.9 percent and the CSI300 has risen 32.5 percent, while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is up 14.6 percent. Shanghai stocks have risen 3.17 percent this month.