China shares close mixed after hitting near five-year high

Chinese shares closed mixed on Monday after the key Shanghai index touched a near five-year high.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.33 percent higher at 3,168.02 points. The smaller Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.21 percent lower at 10,780.40 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses increased to 835.39 billion yuan (136.5 billion U.S. dollars) from previous trading day's 725.17 billion yuan.

The key Shanghai index opened nearly 2 percent higher in morning trading, helped by the news more funds will be released into the market as rules for calculating bank deposits will be adjusted next year.

A forecast by Haitong Securities said that the adjustment is expected to unleash 5.5 trillion yuan of credit available for lending.

Led by property, bank and insurance shares, the Shanghai index touched a near five-year high of 3,233.86 points at one time but then tumbled in the afternoon trading as heavyweights slipped.

Property share rallied, with Beijing Capital Development, Poly Real Estate Development and China Merchants Property Development all rising by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Insurance companies were strong, with China Life Insurance up by the daily limit of 10 percent, and China Pacific Insurance adding 6.68 percent.

The shares related to free trade zones (FTZ) continued to perform well, after the State Council was authorized by the top legislature to relax investment policies for foreign firms in three new FTZs and newly-included districts in China (Shanghai) Pilot FTZ on Sunday.

Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park Development soared 8.14 percent, and Shanghai Jinqiao Export Processing Zone Development added 5.76 percent.

Brokerage firms slumped, with Everbright Securities down 5.45 percent, Sealand Securities off 5.12 percent and Soochow Securities dropping 4.63 percent.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, closed 2.39 percent lower at 1,499.4 points.