Shanghai shares level off after Thursday plunge

The Shanghai Composite Index leveled off from a sudden Thursday fall of 6.5% to finish Friday down 0.1% for the day, The Wall Street Journal reported. Selling on Friday continued in financial, energy and industrial stocks, while IT, consumer and health care stocks helped prop up the Shanghai exchange. Shenzhen’s stock market proved less susceptible to retail investor unease on Friday, closing up 1.3% after a 5.5% drop on Thursday. Flows to Chinese stock funds totaled US$4.58 billion for the week, up from US$1.4 billion the week before, according to ANZ data; turnover in the mainland markets fell to RMB1.85 trillion (US$297.5 billion) Friday after topping RMB2 trillion in the previous three sessions.