Hong Kong stocks end lower as JD.com drags; China shares slip

Hong Kong stocks ended lower on Wednesday, weighed down by JD.com following a stake sale by top shareholder Walmart, while China shares also fell.

Walmart is seeking to raise up to $3.74 billion by selling its stake in Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters, as the US retailer focuses on its own operations in China.

JD.com tumbled 8.7 per cent and dragged tech shares down 1.9 per cent in Hong Kong.

Electric vehicle maker Xpeng fell 2.2 per cent after it forecast third-quarter revenue below analysts' expectations and missed June-quarter sales estimates.

Some video game and related concept stocks jumped, with Zhejiang Publishing & Media up 10 per cent, after a new video game title was launched on Tuesday by a Tencent-backed startup and became the most-played game on a major online platform.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.35 per cent at 2,856.58.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.33 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.55 per cent, the consumer staples sector down 0.81 per cent, the real estate index down 1.03 per cent and the healthcare sub-index down 0.72 per cent.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended 0.28 per cent lower and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.603 per cent.

The Hang Seng index was down 135.36 points or 0.77 per cent at 17,345.53. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.97 per cent to 6,121.49.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.52 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.29 per cent.

 At 07:48, the yuan was quoted at 7.1344 per US dollar, 0.07 per cent weaker than the previous close of 7.1297.