SHANGHAI: China stocks closed down on Thursday, as investors took profits after a strong rally this year and rotated into financial shares.
China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index ended 0.5 percent lower, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.4 percent. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was roughly flat.
China’s onshore shares are locked in a near-term tug-of-war around the 4,000 level, as a firmer US dollar index weighs on tech valuations, while profit-taking, softer-than-expected tech earnings and elevated position concentration add internal pressure, said analysts at China Fortune Securities.
The Shanghai Composite Index is up 17 percent so far this year, trading at 3,931 points. It rose above the 4,000 level for the first time in 10 years in late October.
Shares in onshore brokerages rose as much as 2 percent after China International Capital Corp (CICC) said it would acquire two rivals, stoking expectations of further consolidation in the country’s USD1.6 trillion securities industry.
Meanwhile, the CSI Bank Index gained 0.8 percent, with Bank of China up 4 percent.
Tech majors traded in Hong Kong fell 0.6 percent, tracking an overnight drop in their counterparts in New York .
Onshore AI shares opened higher before reversing gains, despite Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Wednesday shrugging off concerns about an AI bubble as the company surprised Wall Street with accelerating growth after several quarters of slowing sales. Semiconductor shares were down 1.4 percent.
The CSI 300 Real Estate Index rose 2.2 percent after media reported that China is considering fresh property stimulus such as mortgage subsidies.
China left its benchmark lending rates unchanged on Thursday for the sixth consecutive month in November, in line with market expectations.
Wingtech shares jumped as much as 5 percent after the Dutch government stepped back from taking control of chip maker Nexperia, a Wingtech unit.
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