SHANGHAI: China stocks extended losses on Friday as investors booked profits after recent sharp gains, with the Shanghai benchmark index and the start-up board poised for their worst weekly losses in nearly two years.

Investors continued to dump small-caps after firms including Leshi flagged startling losses for 2017. Sentiment was further dampened as a slew of companies suspended trading in an apparent effort to avoid margin calls. Meanwhile, major shareholders of a growing list of companies have announced plans to buy shares in their firms, stirring memories of the 2015 stock market crash that sent shockwaves across global financial markets. At 04:03 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was down 14.16 points or 0.4 percent at 3,432.82. It was on track for a weekly loss of 3.5 percent. China's blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.2 percent, with the financial sector sub-index lower by 0.42 percent, the consumer staples sector down 1.76 percent, the real estate index up 0.67 percent and healthcare sub-index up 0.19 percent. The CSI300 has shed 3.2 percent this week. The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.43 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.71 percent. Still, ChiNext looked set for a near 6 percent slump for the week. Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.5 percent at 13,498.27, while the Hang Seng Index was down 0.01 percent at 32,640.12.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index slid 0.4 percent and Japan's Nikkei index 1.3 percent. The yuan was quoted at 6.2821 per US dollar, 0.23 percent firmer than the previous close of 6.2965. The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were SJEC Corp up 9.99 percent, followed by Anhui Leimingkehua Co Ltd gaining 8.48 percent and ShanXi Coking Co Ltd up by 8.19 percent. The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Guizhou Chitianhua Co Ltd down 10.03 percent, followed by Routon Electronic Co Ltd losing 10.01 percent and Shandong Jintai Group Co Ltd down by 10.01 percent. ** Through Thursday's close, the Shanghai stock index was up 4.23 percent so far this year, while China's H-share index was up 14.7 percent. Shanghai stocks have declined nearly 1.4 percent this month. The top gainers among H-shares were People's Insurance Group of China Co Ltd up 5 percent, followed by Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd gaining 3.18 percent and Air China Ltd up by 3.01 percent. The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd which has fallen 1.20 percent, China Minsheng Banking Corp Ltd which has lost 0.8 percent and Great Wall Motor Co Ltd down by 0.6 percent. ** About 11.44 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 56.3 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 20.31 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 26.05 billion as of the last full trading day. As of 04:03 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 29.96 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. The Shanghai stock index is above its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 15.85 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 1.8 percent. So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has fallen by -2.65 percent to 30.48 trillion yuan. In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares rose 2.7 percent while the IT sector fell 0.1 percent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was AAC Technologies Holdings Inc up 7 percent, while the biggest loser was China Merchants Port Holdings Co Ltd which was down 5.00 percent.