China stocks inch lower on Sino-U.S. tensions, post weekly gain on recovery hopes

China stocks ended lower on Friday after the Trump administration unveiled a plan to ban U.S. transactions with ByteDance's TikTok and Tencent-owned WeChat, but posted weekly gains on upbeat trade data.

China stocks ended lower on Friday after the Trump administration unveiled a plan to ban U.S. transactions with ByteDance's TikTok and Tencent-owned WeChat, but posted weekly gains on upbeat trade data. ** The blue-chip CSI300 index dropped as much as 2.6% before ending 1.2% lower at 4,707.93, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1% to 3,354.04 after falling 2.3% earlier in the session.

** U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday sweeping bans on U.S. transactions with China's ByteDance, the owner of video-sharing app TikTok, and Tencent 0700.HK, the operator of WeChat, starting in 45 days. ** Adding to pressure, Trump administration officials have also urged the president to delist Chinese companies that trade on U.S. exchanges and fail to meet U.S. auditing requirements by January 2022.

** Tech stocks fell across the board on Friday. Shenzhen's tech-heavy start-up board ChiNext sank 2.3%, while the newly launched STAR 50 index ended down 3%. ** Though some analysts argue the impact from the Sino-U.S. relations on the A-shares is very limited now, as the market has become quite prepared for the "normalized" tensions.

** "Unless a hot war breaks out between the two countries, investors need not worry too much about the tensions," said Yan Kaiwen, an analyst with China Fortune Securities. ** For the week, major indexes still posted gains as investors cheered more signs of economic recovery and Bejing's continued policy support.

** SSEC added 1.3% for the week, while CSI300 was up 0.3%. ** China's economy appeared to be gathering pace in July as exports rose the most this year while some raw material imports hit record highs, adding to hopes for a more sustained recovery.

** China's central bank said on Thursday it would make its prudent monetary policy more flexible and targeted, and keep liquidity appropriately ample to support economic recovery.