SHANGHAI: Stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong ended lower on Wednesday, dragged by gold shares, while lingering Sino-US trade tensions also weighed on sentiment.
At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.07 percent at 3,913.76 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index lost 0.33 percent.
Gold stocks were among the biggest losers in morning deals, following plunging bullion prices in global markets, with the CSI non-ferrous metal industry sub-index closing down 1.34 percent. Western Region Gold slumped 4.93 percent.
The precious metal has had a blockbuster run this year, climbing more than 50 percent as broader geopolitical and economic uncertainty, as well as expectations of US interest rate cuts, spurred demand for the safe-haven asset.
US President Donald Trump said he will discuss a lot of things with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in two weeks, but also conceded that the potential meeting may not happen.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index dropped 0.94 percent at 25,781.77 points, while the city’s tech index fell 1.41 percent.
Meanwhile, some global investment banks said they no longer expect major monetary stimulus measures in the remainder of this year.
“China could still be on track to hit its ‘around 5 percent’ growth target with the growth achieved in the first three quarters of this year,” Citi analysts said in a note.
“With smaller room to cut for the People’s Bank of China, we no longer expect a policy rate cut or reserve requirement ratio (RRR) cut in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the focus could be on deployment of fiscal and quasi-fiscal policies.”
Analysts at Standard Chartered said they expect another 10-basis-point rate cut in the fourth quarter, with “risk that the rate cut may not happen this year.”
Separately, the elite Central Committee of China’s ruling Communist Party is holding the Fourth Plenum from Monday to Thursday. It will outline the government’s economic, political and social agenda as well as its development plans for the next five years. A communique is expected to be published on Thursday.
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