SHANGHAI: Chinese stocks ended lower on Wednesday, led by semiconductor and tech shares, as investors took profits after the previous session marked the sharpest rally in three months. Hong Kong shares also fell.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index closed 0.5 percent down, while the Shanghai Composite Index was roughly flat. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down 1 percent.
The AI hardware supply chain rallied in the morning session but by market close, the tech-focused STAR50 Index and semiconductor shares were down 2.3 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. The 5G Communication Index dropped 3.6 percent.
Shares of non-ferrous metal companies climbed 3.4 percent, rebounding after underperforming the broader market over the past month.
Traditional sectors such as consumer staples and financials rose in the afternoon session, up 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.
“Despite recent sharp fluctuations in A-shares, we think the trend for overall A-shares and tech earnings to keep improving remains intact,” said UBS analysts in a note.
“With the rapid decline in the balance of margin financing, we think A-share deleveraging may be largely complete,” they said.
The CSI300 and STAR50 indices had rallied 14 percent and 175 percent respectively from April to June, fuelled by investor enthusiasm for AI and hardware supply chain stocks, before giving back some of those gains in a correction over the past month.
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