HONG KONG: China and Hong Kong stocks extended declines on Tuesday with weakness across the board, joining the slide in the Asia region as sentiment turned jittery ahead of a slate of US data releases.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost as much as 1.3 percent to 3815.84, the lowest level since October 13, before narrowing the loss to 1.1 percent at market close.
The blue-chip CSI 300 Index lost 1.2 percent at close after briefly touching a three-week low earlier in the session.
Weakness was across the board on Tuesday. The rare earth sector led losses with a 2.9 percent drop, new energy-related shares lost 2.4 percent, and the artificial intelligence sector declined 2.5 percent amid concerns about the sector being overheated.
Sentiment has turned cautious again after latest economic data showed domestic fundamentals remain weak, and with key policy meetings for the year mostly concluded last week, the market will need more forceful catalysts if it was to grind higher, analysts at Nanhua Futures said.
“We think the market is likely to continue range-bound for the near term,” and the US data release this week could add to volatility if they impact rate cut expectations, they added.
Lifting the broader markets on Tuesday, the CSI Intelligent Vehicle Index climbed 0.4 percent after regulators approved for the first time two Chinese cars with level-3 autonomous driving capabilities.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.8 percent, and the benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 1.5 percent.
The Hang Seng Tech Index lost as much as 2.7 percent, bringing the losses since the October peak to roughly 20 percent.
Around the region, sentiment was fragile with shares tumbling as investors adopted a cautious approach ahead of US data.