Despite the fall in the index on Friday, gaining Shanghai A shares outnumbered losers by 473 to 374, while turnover fell to 101 billion yuan from an already moderate 123 billion yuan on Thursday, indicating investors focused on small-cap shares.

Shenzhen Gas, a liquefied gas distributor that listed a 900 million-yuan IPO in Shanghai on Friday, closed up 118 percent at 15.17 yuan from its IPO price of 6.95 yuan, easily beating an average analyst forecast of only 8.5 yuan and betraying clear signs of heavy speculation in new shares that has been common in China’s nascent stock market. More >