* SSEC -0.58% CSI300 -1.01%
* Financials, consumer staples lead losses
* Commodities firms recover after previous day's drop
SHANGHAI, May 21 (Reuters) - China's main share indexes ended lower on Friday, dragged down by financials and consumer staples, though the commodities sector rebounded from previous session's slump as investors processed Beijing's pledge to keep commodity prices in check.
** At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.58% at 3,486.56. The index fell 0.11% for the week. ** The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 1.01%, but delivered a weekly gain of 0.46%. ** The CSI300 financial sector sub-index fell 1.44%, the consumer staples sector dropped 1.17%, the real-estate index slipped 1.02%, and the healthcare sub-index lost 1.43%. ** But Chinese commodity companies closed higher as analysts said China's pledge to strengthen management to curb "unreasonable" increases in commodity prices are likely to have only a temporary effect. ** The CSI300 energy index added 0.59% and the CSI A-share resource industries index rose 0.83%. ** Chongqing Changan Automobile Co Ltd shares soared to close 8.46% higher after Reuters exclusively reported that Changan is expanding its partnership with Huawei Technologies to include the design and development of auto-use semiconductors. ** The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.51% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.966%. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.19%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.78%. ** At 0703 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.4334 per U.S. dollar, 0.03% firmer than the previous close of 6.4355. ** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index climbed 0.4% and the CSI300 has fallen 1.5%, while China's H-share index listed in Hong Kong dropped 0.3%. Shanghai stocks have risen 1.15% so far this month. (Reporting by Andrew Galbraith, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
