Mainland stocks slipped on Friday, declining for the third consecutive week, as uncertainties in the Middle East reinforced a risk-averse mood ahead of a local holiday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 39 points, or 1 percent, at 3,880.

The Shenzhen Component Index was 134 points, or 0.99 percent, lower at 13,352 while the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, was 23 points, or 0.73 percent, lower at 3,149.

China's blue-chip CSI300 Index closed 38 points, or 0.9 percent, lower at 4,440, bringing its losses for the week to 1.4 percent and extending its declines to a third straight week.

Analysts ⁠at BOC International said markets had yet ⁠to see clear details on ⁠control of the Strait of Hormuz or efforts to resolve the oil supply chain crisis, ⁠keeping concerns over crude ‌supplies elevated.

For onshore shares, external volatility is being transmitted largely through sentiment, while ‌China's still-low inflation and expectations of a pick-up in nominal prices this year ⁠could support domestic demand, the analysts said.

China's services activity growth slowed in March from a 33-month high in February, as softer ‌demand and a decline in overseas orders weighed on momentum, a private-sector survey showed on Friday.

Wuxi Apptec fell nearly 4 percent and the CSI 300 Health Care Index lost ⁠1.9 percent, after ‌US President Donald Trump ordered 100 percent tariffs ‌on certain branded pharma imports and overhauled steel, aluminium and copper duties on Thursday.

Artificial ‌intelligence-related shares were one of the few bright spots, rising 0.7 percent. Semiconductor stocks were roughly flat.

The CSI Energy Index fell 1.5 percent ⁠while the CSI New Energy Index shed 2.4 percent despite surging oil prices.

In Tokyo, artificial intelligence-related stocks led the Nikkei higher, with the gauge rising 660 points, or 1.26 percent, to close at 53,123, ending the week down 0.47 percent.

The broader Topix climbed 33 points, or 0.93 percent, to 3,645.

In Seoul, the benchmark Kospi closed up ⁠143 points, or 2.74 percent, at 5,377. (Reuters & Xinhua)



Edited by Thomas McAlinden