HONG KONG: Chinese stocks declined on the last trading day of May as investors booked profits from the semiconductor sector while Lenovo Group helped Hong Kong shares to rise for the first time in four sessions.
At the close, China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index was down 0.5 percent while the Shanghai Composite Index showed a 0.7 percent decline.
The CSI 300 gained 1.8 percent over the month while the Shanghai Composite lost 1.1 percent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng benchmark closed 0.7 percent up but finished the month 2.3 percent down.
Market participants say funds are starting to rotate from hot sectors to underperforming sectors and the market is likely to continue to fluctuate.
The real estate and liquor sectors outperformed the market, rising by 4.2 percent and 3.4 percent respectively, while the semiconductor sector tumbled more than 5 percent.
“We expect market dynamics to turn clearer and smoother around or after the summer, though near-term volatility is likely to persist,” said Morgan Stanley analysts.
Consumption remains subdued in China, they said.
In Hong Kong, shares of Lenovo, China’s top PC maker, soared more than 20 percent after US rival Dell jumped 40 percent in after-hours trading on strong AI demand.
The smaller Shenzhen index ended 1.9 percent down and the ChiNext Composite index for startups lost 2.1 percent.