Mainland stock exchanges boosted by increases for media, brokerage firms

Stock exchanges in the Chinese mainland saw a weekly gain, partly thanks to a rise on Friday led by the finance and media sectors.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose by 34.13 points or 1.39 percent to 2,486.79 points on Friday, ending the week up 0.33 percent from the previous Friday, November 14.

The Shenzhen Component Index increased by 126.92 points or 1.55 percent to 8,332.30 points Friday, with a weekly gain of 0.06 percent.

Combined turnover on the two bourses on Friday was 370.21 billion yuan ($60.41 billion), up from the previous trading day's 294.59 billion yuan.

Despite the launch of the much-awaited Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect scheme on November 17, the mainland stock exchanges remained somewhat sluggish before Friday's gains.

On Friday, brokerages jumped by 6.54 percent on average. Three brokerage firms - China Merchants Securities Co, Industrial Securities Co and Everbright Securities Co - all gained by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Brokerages continued their rally after the State Council called for faster progress in creating a reform plan for registration-based IPOs, which will lower the entry threshold for small businesses, media reports said.

Media firms rose by more than 4 percent, with Northern United Publishing & Media (Group) Co jumping by the daily limit of 10 percent to 12.43 yuan and Shanghai Xinhua Media Co rising by 8.53 percent to 13.61 yuan.

Insurers, banks, steel firms and real estate companies also saw rises on Friday.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups, closed up by 10.24 points or 0.69 percent at 1,504.83 points. The index jumped by 4.41 percent week-on-week, recovering from the previous week's decline of 5.35 percent.