Chinese shares end low

Chinese shares closed lower on Friday amid weak sentiment. Twenty shares related to Shanghai-based conglomerate Fosun either suspended trading or suffered losses.

The key Shanghai index fell 0.61 percent, or 20.91 points, to end at 3,434.58 points, Xinhua reported.

The smaller Shenzhen index shed 0.39 percent to close at 12,134.02 points.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.9 percent to close at 2,671.29 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses stood at 632.9 billion yuan ($98.3 billion), down nearly 90 billion yuan from the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 629 to 315 in Shanghai and by 965 to 552 in Shenzhen.

Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) and four other firms which Fosun has controlling stake suspended trading on Friday, including Hainan Mining, Nanjing Iron & Steel Co., and Shanghai Ganglian, after the news broke on Thursday afternoon that Fosun's chair Guo Guangchang had gone absent without official leave.

Media reports linked his disappearance to an investigation by the authorities.

Fosun is one of China's biggest private conglomerates. It has pharmaceutical, real estate, private equity, steel and mining interests.

Sixteen firms, in which Fosun is a shareholder, did not suspend trading, and only Shandong Shida Shenghua Chemical Group Co. Ltd. edged up by 0.26 percent after dramatic fluctuations in the day.

The other 15 stocks lost, with five tumbling more than three percent. Dirui Industrial Co. Ltd. suffered the most, plunging 6.5 percent.

Firms in sectors such as motorcycle manufacturing, furniture and medical machinery also performed badly.

Bucking the trend, nearly 30 stocks on the two exchanges surged by the daily limit of 10 percent, mainly shares related to nonferrous metal and rare earth.