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SHANGHAI: China's main equity market indexes ended flat on Friday in thin trade as investors remained cautious after the arrest of a senior Huawei executive sparked a global sell-off on fears it could derail hopes for a lasting U.S.-China trade detente.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was flat at 2,605.88 points.
But despite the sharp fall on Thursday, it gained 0.7 per cent for the week.
The blue-chip CSI300 index also ended flat at 3,181.56 points, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.07 per cent, the consumer staples sector down 0.25 per cent, the real estate index up 0.66 per cent and the healthcare sub-index down 4.31 per cent.
The CSI300 index gained 0.3 per cent for the week.
Shares in China's drugmakers slumped, as investor worries deepened over the steep price cuts following bidding results in volume-based drug procurement negotiations.
The CSI300 healthcare index finished 4.3 per cent lower.
Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, who is under arrest in Canada is set to appear in a Vancouver court on Friday for a bail hearing as she awaits possible extradition to the United States.
President Donald Trump did not know about plans to arrest Meng, two U.S.
officials said on Thursday, in an apparent attempt to stop the incident from impeding crucial trade talks with Beijing.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended unchanged for the day and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.352 per cent.
Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.32 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.82 per cent.
At 0708 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.8779 per U.S.
dollar, 0.06 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.882.
The largest per centage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were TianYu Eco-Environment Co Ltd, up 10.05 per cent, followed by Eastern Communications Co Ltd, gaining 10.03 per cent and Jiangsu Xinri E-Vehicle Co Ltd , up by 10.03 per cent.
The largest per centage losses in the Shanghai index were FUREN Group Pharmaceutical Co Ltd down 10 per cent, followed by Zhejiang Langdi Group Co Ltd losing 9.99 per cent and Autobio Diagnostics Co Ltd down by 9.72 per cent.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is down 21.2 per cent, the CSI300 has fallen 21.1 per cent while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong is down 10.9 per cent.
Shanghai stocks have risen 0.68 per cent this month.
About 10.91 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 61.0 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 17.88 billion shares a day.
The volume in the previous trading session was 14.17 billion
