China stocks close mixed ahead of key data release

Chinese stocks closed mixed on Friday ahead of the release of key economic data, including data on trade and inflation that will be released on Saturday and Monday, respectively.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1 percent, or 2.06 points, to finish at 2,104.93.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 8,650.19, down 14.9 points, or 0.17 percent.

Combined turnover shrank to 105.5 billion yuan (16.67 billion U.S. dollars) from 121.49 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 456 to 444 in Shanghai and by 809 to 639 in Shenzhen.

Entertainment and culture-related stocks rose, boosted by Chinese writer Mo Yan being awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature. Shanghai Xinhua Media Co., Ltd. jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent to 6.23 yuan per share. Time Publishing and Media Co., Ltd. surged 3.89 percent to 10.94 yuan.

Bank shares gained, with China Construction Bank up 1.72 percent to 4.14 yuan and China Merchants Bank up 1.57 percent to 10.36 yuan.

Bucking the trend, gold-related stocks dropped. Shandong Humon Smelting Co., Ltd. tumbled 3.32 percent to 24.17 yuan.

China's customs agency is expected to release trade data on Saturday, and the consumer price index and producer price index are both scheduled to be released on Monday.

The nation's new yuan-denominated lending in September hit 623.2 billion yuan (98.45 billion U.S. dollars), marking a decrease from 703.9 billion yuan in August.

However, September's new yuan-denominated lending increased by 153.9 billion yuan from a year earlier, the People's Bank of China, the central bank, announced shortly after the markets closed.