China stocks fall over 1% on Friday

BEIJING - Chinese stocks plunged more than one percent Friday as the slowdown of non-manufacturing activities and resumption of initial public offerings (IPO) weighed heavily on the market.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 1.24 percent, or 26.25 points, to finish at 2,083.14.

The Shenzhen Component Index declined 1.06 percent, or 86.06 points, to close at 8,028.33.

Data before markets closed on Friday showed the non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index slipped in December for the second straight month, due to a slowdown in construction and service sectors. The index declined to 54.6 percent last month from 56 percent in November and 56.3 percent in October.

The announcement from China's securities regulator to resume IPOs by approving the listing of five companies on Dec 31 also damped investors confidence.

Financial stocks and real estate led the decline. Coochow Securities slumped 4 percent to 8.15 yuan per share; Hua Xia Bank fell 2.89 percent to 8.06 yuan; China Vanke dived 1.88 percent to 7.84 yuan.

Combined turnover of the two bourses sharply expanded to 184.25 billion yuan ($30.19 billion) from 159.78 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Bucking the trend, the ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, extended gains on Friday by rising 1.49 percent to close at 1.352.84.