- Shanghai stocks -0.24%, blue-chip CSI300 -0.55%
- Indexes post biggest weekly gains since June
- Healthcare, consumer staples drag on broader gauges
- China reports 124 new coronavirus cases
SHANGHAI, Aug 6 (Reuters) - China shares closed lower on Friday, on worries over a continuing surge of new cases of COVID-19 and tightening government regulations, although they recorded their biggest weekly gain in six.
The Shanghai Composite index ended down 0.24% at 3,458.23. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.55%.
But both indexes had their biggest weekly gains since late June, with the CSI300 rising 2.3% and the Shanghai Composite adding 1.8% after sharp drops last week.
Declines in healthcare shares dragged on the broader market, with an index tracking the sector falling 3.75%. The consumer staples sector fell 0.89% and the IT sector slipped 0.71%.
The falls came as China on Friday reported its highest daily count for new coronavirus infections in its current outbreak. The rise in cases has fuelled concern about the outlook for China’s uneven economic recovery.
Education firms also fell, with an index tracking the sector in mainland and Hong Kong markets sliding 0.73%. The index, walloped by last month’s banning of curriculum-based for-profit tutoring in China, has fallen for 11 straight weeks.
Duolingo Inco said it was aware that its popular language learning app was no longer available for download on some Chinese app stores, following the tutoring crackdown.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.2% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 1.178%.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.14%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.33%.
At 0703 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.465 per U.S. dollar, 0.06% weaker than the previous close of 6.461. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; editing by Uttaresh.V)
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