SHANGHAI: China stocks fell on Thursday on Sino-West tensions and as healthcare firms declined following investors’ return after the Labour Day break.

The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 1.2% to 5,061.12, while the Shanghai Composite Index eased 0.2% to 3,441.28 points.

The tech-heavy start-up board ChiNext dropped 2.5%, while Shanghai’s STAR50 index slipped 0.9%.

The CSI300 healthcare index fell the most, down 4.1%, as vaccine makers retreated after US President Joe Biden threw his support behind waiving intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines. China’s domestic liquidity conditions are marginally tightening as compared with March and April, as interest rates could easily go up and would be difficult to bring down, while there is room for a further rise in US treasury yields, Founder Securities analysts said in a report.