SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese stocks fell on Friday as the approach of a week-long public holiday prompted investors to take profits, despite a much stronger-than-expected debut by CITIC Bank.

CITIC Bank's (601998.SS: Quote, Profile , Research) A shares almost doubled from their IPO price, but many analysts said this was not a healthy sign for the market as it showed wild speculation.

"It was very surprising to see this bank's shares rise so high. This just shows short-term speculation is dominating the market," said Haitong Securities analyst Zhang Qi.

He and others, noting that the rest of the bank sector was weak on Friday, said CITIC Bank might well be sold actively on Monday as speculators took profits.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.61 percent at 3,759.867 points, after touching a record intra-day high of 3,802.923 earlier. The 3,800-point level had been a target for many investors.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 508 to 363. Turnover in Shanghai A shares was very heavy at 161.7 billion yuan ($21.0 billion), up from Thursday's 141.1 billion yuan, but it was inflated by 8.4 billion yuan of turnover in CITIC Bank.

With the index up 41 percent since the end of last year, many investors want to take some money off the table, especially given continued rumors that official action to cool the market -- such a crackdown on speculation or an interest rate hike -- might be announced over the long holiday.

"Two insurance shares offset the losses of the banks today, but since the index has touched 3,800 as widely expected, I think there will be another round of strong profit-taking (on Monday) given the holiday," said Huatai Securities analyst Chen Jinren. Continued...

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