SHANGHAI: Mainland China stocks ended lower on Tuesday, the first trading day after a long weekend break, with two key indexes sinking to their lowest levels in nearly two months.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong stocks closed at a more than one-week low, weighed down by surprisingly robust US jobs data that sparked a dramatic paring of bets for Federal Reserve rate cuts this year. Investors now keenly awaited China’s May credit lending data this week to gauge the health of the broad economy.
A Reuters poll suggested that China’s new yuan loans likely rebounded in May from April as the central bank told lenders to quicken bank lending to support the economy.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.76% at 3,028.05 points, the weakest close since April 23. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.87% at 3,542.88 points, the lowest closing level since April 25.
The main draggers of the market were the consumer staples sector and the non-ferrous metal industry. They were down 2.35% and 2.54%, respectively, at the close of the market.
Losses in the non-ferrous metal industry shares came after the London copper price hit its lowest level in more than five weeks on Monday, amid a firm dollar and constraints in physical demand.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended up 0.29% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.35%. Semiconductor and semiconductor equipment shares outperformed the market on Tuesday, with a sub-index tracking the sector gaining 4.25% at the end of the session.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 190.61 points, or 1.04%, at 18,176.34 points, the lowest close since May 31. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.9% to 6,452.06 points.
Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.49%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.25%. The yuan was quoted at 7.2542 per US dollar at 0809 GMT, 0.09% weaker than the previous close of 7.248.
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