China shares drop on property sector woes, Xi speech aids tech stocks

China stocks slid on Wednesday, with property firms leading the losses due to mounting pressure for raising fresh cash under the government's new debt-ratio caps, while some tech shares climbed after comments from President Xi Jinping. ** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.54% at 3,341.73.

China stocks slid on Wednesday, with property firms leading the losses due to mounting pressure for raising fresh cash under the government's new debt-ratio caps, while some tech shares climbed after comments from President Xi Jinping.

** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.54% at 3,341.73. ** China's blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.61%, with the real estate sub-index dropping 1.09%, while the healthcare index inched up 0.09%. The financial sector sub-index slipped by 0.56%, while the consumer staples sector was down 0.76%.

** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.02% to 9,880.74, while the Hang Seng Index was down 0.27% at 24,583.40. ** The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.48%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.5% and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR50 index was down 0.87%​.

** Shares of China Evergrande Group, the country's most indebted property developer, fell as much as 18% in early trading. The company raised $555 million in a slimmed-down share sale after initially targeting up to double that amount. ** Shares of Shenzen-based Tencent Holdings Ltd hit an all-time high by surging 2.2% in the morning.

** Shenzhen will strengthen property rights and protection of entrepreneurs, President Xi said on Wednesday, in a speech marking the establishment of the country's first economic zone in the southern city four decades earlier. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.10% and Japan's Nikkei index was up 0.08%.

** The yuan was quoted at 6.7392 per U.S. dollar, 0.09% firmer than the previous close of 6.745.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)