August 02, 2024 at 01:03 am EDT
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China stocks fell on Friday, tracking weakness in global markets after softer-than-expected U.S. factory activity data sparked fears of a downturn, while the Middle East conflict and China's fragile recovery also dented sentiment.
A measure of U.S. manufacturing activity dropped to an eight-month low in July amid a slump in new orders, data showed on Thursday, sparking broad risk-off moves across markets even after signals from the Federal Reserve earlier this week that a rate cut could come as soon as September.
Tensions in the Middle East escalated, after the Israeli military said on Thursday that the head of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza last month, a day after the group's political leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran.
Investors were also concerned about China's economic woes. Data earlier this week showed that manufacturing activity shrank sharply. China also reported weaker-than-expected second-quarter economic growth earlier this month.
"Global markets have experienced wild swings, with investors flocking to safe assets on expectations that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates sharply, while concerns about an economic slowdown and investment returns from technology giants have led to uncertainty and defensive investment trends," said Zheng Yufei, an analyst at Guosen Securities (HK).
At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.45% at 2,919.32.
China's blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.66%, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.7%, the consumer staples sector up 0.21%, the real estate index down 0.11% and the healthcare sub-index up 1.6%.
Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong fell 1.92% to 5,969.42, while the Hang Seng Index was down 2.05% at 16,950.59.
The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.32%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.85% and Shanghai's tech-focused

STAR

50 index was down 0.93%.
Around the region, MSCI 's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 2.31%, while Japan's Nikkei index was down 4.44%. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Sumber : Reuters