China's combined market capitalization slipped 1.35 percent last week to 17 trillion yuan (2.2 trillion US dollars) by the close of the last trading day, following the government's trading tax hike to cool the overheated economy.

The Shanghai stock exchange registered 13 trillion yuan in market capitalization on Friday, down 2.2 percent compared with that on June 1, while the smaller Shenzhen stock exchange totaled 3.9 trillion yuan, up 1.6 percent.

Total market value, or value of total tradable shares, had reached 5.7 trillion yuan in the two bourses by June 8.

Chinese stock markets have clawed back much of the ground lost when they plunged 8.26 percent on Monday. From Tuesday to Friday, they went up 2.63 percent, 0.23 percent, 3.03 percent and 0.57 percent.

The slump was attributed to the government's decision to triple the stamp tax on securities trading from 0.1 percent to 0.3 percent.

China's stock market has been swelling since last year, with market capitalization soaring by almost six times.

The market value of Chinese stocks is predicted to reach five trillion US dollars in 2016 and 10 trillion US dollars in 2020, equivalent to 70 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), said Hu Zuliu, general manager of Goldman Sachs Group (Asia) Ltd.

(Xinhua)