HONG KONG: China stocks were largely flat after a wobbly trading session on Thursday, as defensive sectors continued to support the market amid ongoing sector rotation despite fresh trade barbs.
The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.1 percent to 3,916.23 points and the blue-chip CSI300 index added 0.3 percent, both recovering from weakness in earlier trades.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was flat at 25,888.51 points after swinging between gains and losses throughout the day.
“The broad indexes could get bumpy in short term, but the market would still find new industry trends to push higher,” analysts at BOCI Securities said in a note.
Although risk factors such as trade frictions have intensified and dented market sentiment, the fundamental long-term logic supporting this round of A-share bull run remains intact, they added.
On Wednesday, top US officials blasted China’s major expansion of rare earth export controls as a threat to global supply chains, but said leaders of the two countries are likely to discuss another tariff truce extension during the upcoming meeting in Korea.
The rare earth sector declined 3 percent to pull back further from its all-time peak following the US push-back.
The tech sectors gave up earlier gains after TSMC reported a record quarter. Rival SMIC closed down 1.7 percent. China’s semiconductor index dipped 0.8 percent, and AI-related shares weakened 0.1 percent.
Financials extended recent gains to lift the market higher as investors took on more defensive positions. The insurance sector added 1.9 percent to its highest in 1-1/2 months, and the banking sector rallied 1.3 percent in its fifth straight session of gains.
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