SHANGHAI B shares were mixed, with investors remaining cautious while companies report earnings for last year but expecting improved economic prospects to drive the market up eventually.
'Many fund managers want to see more results,' said Queenie Cheung, analyst at Standard Chartered Securities.
'We are only a third of the way through the reports, so I think people are still very cautious.' The CLSA Shanghai B share index fell 0.03 point to 645.66 points after rising in the first three days of the week.
Turnover was US$1.81 million, down from $3.92 million on Thursday. Seven stocks fell, 10 rose and 16 were unchanged.
The recently launched CLSA A-30 index, made up of 30 leading A shares, rose 3.24 per cent to 1,377.34 points.
Lawrence Ang, head of China Research at SBCI Finance Asia, said some results due out next week were likely to be lower than forecast, due to the government's tight credit policy last year.
Hong Kong-listed Chinese machinery companies Beiren Printing and Kunming Machine-tool were also expected to report poor results next week, he said.