U.S.-listed Chinese firms trade mostly lower

NEW YORK, April 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower on Friday with eight of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.

Shares of TAL Education Group and NetEase slid 2.88 percent and 2.64 percent, respectively, leading the laggards in the top 10 stocks in the index.

Shares of NIO and ZTO Express rose 2.18 percent and 0.47 percent, respectively, the only two advancers in the top 10 stocks.

U.S. stocks finished lower on Friday, weighed by overall weakness in energy and tech sectors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 185.51 points, or 0.54 percent, to 33,874.85. The S&P 500 lost 30.30 points, or 0.72 percent, to 4,181.17. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 119.86 points, or 0.85 percent, to 13,962.68.

The Cboe Volatility Index, widely considered as the best fear gauge in the stock market, surged 5.68 percent to 18.61.

As of Thursday, the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index, which is designed to track the performance of the 50 largest Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges by total market cap, stood at 4,994.41, marking a 0.82-percent gain for the month-to-date returns and a 4.41-percent slide for the year-to-date returns.