Chinese stocks end lower as investors post profits in electric vehicles and healthcare companies

SHANGHAI: Chinese stocks ended lower on Wednesday, led by electric vehicle makers and healthcare firms as investors posted profits, while worries about a slowing economy also weighed on the market. market sentiment. At the close, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.33% at 3,558.18 and the blue chip CSI300 was down 0.68%.

Leading the losses, the health care sub-index fell 2.78% and the new energy vehicles sector lost 3.7%. Shenzhen’s smaller index ended down 0.92% and the start-up board’s ChiNext Composite index was 2.174% lower.

Shares of Chinese property developers surged after the country’s central bank pledged to roll out more policy measures to stabilize the economy.

Dalian iron ore jumped nearly 5%, leading China’s top steelmaker ferrous materials to rebound after three losing sessions, on bets of further policy easing.

Expectations of easing from the People’s Bank of China while bracing for a tightening of US monetary policy “prompts traders to jump into rate-sensitive assets such as commodities and bonds”, it said. writes Hong Hao, head of research at BOCOM International, in a research note.

In the region, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index was down 0.7%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 2.8%. At 07:16 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.3497 per US dollar, 0.06% higher than the previous close of 6.3537.