(Yicai Global) Feb. 1 -- China's stock markets closed on a high note today on the last trading day of the Year of the Dog.

Investors scooped up stocks that have taken a  battering over the last 12 months in the hope that they will fare better  in the upcoming Year of the Pig. Markets will remain closed until Feb.  11 because of the public holiday. 

Small-cap technology-related stocks led the way  with the ChiNext Price Index closing over 3 percent higher for the day.  The volume was light as traders wound down operations ahead of the  holiday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed 1.3  percent higher at 2,618.48 points while the Shenzhen Component Index  rose 2.74 percent to 7,684.00. Shenzhen's ChiNext Index ended the day up  3.52 percent at 1,271.27.

China's Caixin Manufacturing Purchasing Managers'  Index for January slid to its lowest point since February 2016, but  investors took the news in their stride, partly because the latest round  of China-US trade talks made "important progress," according to the  state-backed Xinhua News Agency. 

President Trump expressed he is looking forward to  meeting President Xi following fruitful talks with Chinese Vice-Premier  Liu He. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary  Steven Mnuchin will lead a negotiating team to Beijing in the middle of  February to hammer out further details.