China stocks rangebound ahead of Xi-Trump call; set for weekly loss

By Jiaxing Li

HONG KONG, Sept 19 (Reuters) - China stocks drifted in narrow ranges on Friday, consolidating their recent gains, while investors awaited the outcome of the expected high-level talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index .SSEC eased 0.03% to 3,830.65 points, hovering near the 10-year high but set for a 1% weekly loss.

** China's blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 rose 0.3%, with its banking sub-index .CSI399986 and defence sector .CSI399959 adding 0.2% and 1.6%, respectively.

** The semiconductor index .CSI931865 was largely flat but was headed towards a 7.9% weekly gain, its best performance in a month.

** Fresh optimism over China's artificial intelligence developments continued to lift the sector after developer DeepSeek said it spent $294,000 to train its R1 model, much lower than figures reported for U.S. rivals.

** Local chipmaker SMIC 688981.SS and Hua Hong 688347.SS rose more than 2% each after China redirected its regulatory focus to Nvidia as leverage in the U.S. trade talks.

** Meanwhile, investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of a scheduled high-level call between Xi and Trump later in the day, with discussions expected to cover the TikTok deal and tariffs.

** "There is objectively some profit-taking pressure after the market's rapid short-term gains," analysts at Changjiang Securities said.

** Still, the view that China's market is poised for a "slow bull" run remains intact with more long-term capital and household savings entering the market, they added.

** "We continue to expect stronger fund inflows into Chinese equities in second half of the year, in line with our recent U.S. marketing trip, which saw the highest level of investor interest in China since 2021," Morgan Stanley said.

** Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI added 0.1% to 26,576.59, strengthening 0.6% for the week and heading for the third straight week of gains.

** The Hang Seng Tech index .HSTECH rose 0.6%.