SHANGHAI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - China stocks fell on Friday,
with foreign funds halting their buying spree after nearly one
month of net inflows, as investors examined China's economic
recovery after an expectation-led shares rally.
** China's blue-chip CSI 300 Index lost 1.7% by
the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite
Index was down 1.4%.
** The Hang Seng Index slumped 1.8% and the Hang Seng
China Enterprises Index dropped 2%.
** For the week, the CSI 300 lost 1.7% so far, and the Hang
Seng tumbled 5%.
** Foreign money snapped a buying streak since Jan. 3,
selling a net 6.2 billion yuan ($919.35 million) of Chinese
shares via the Stock Connect Scheme so far on Friday.
** Meanwhile, there are no clear signs of domestic
incremental money flowing into the market yet, Industrial
Securities wrote in a note.
** "There are louder voices for a correction after a January
surge in the market," said Bohai Securities analysts.
"Index-wise, we are entering an observation stage in the near
term to examine the recovery and more policies."
** China's stock benchmark jumped 7.4% last month
on bets of China's strong rebound in holiday spendings.
** They added future upside depends on a fundamental
recovery, especially in the consumption and property sectors.
** Market liquidity also tightened marginally after the
Lunar New Year holidays, with the country's central bank
draining 720 billion yuan via open market operations this week.
** Most sectors fell, with shares in resources ,
new energy and automobiles down more
than 2% to lead the decline.
** Tech giants listed in Hong Kong also lost 1.8%.
** In a bright spot, China's services activity in January
expanded for the first time in five months as spending and
travel got a boost from the lifting of stringent COVID curbs,
sending business confidence to near 12-year highs, a private
sector survey showed on Friday.
($1 = 6.7439 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; editing by Uttaresh.V)
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