China stocks close mixed; tech shares gain but material stocks weigh

* SSEC -0.2%, CSI300 flat

* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used -9.8%, Shanghai->HK daily quota used 4.6%

* FTSE China A50 -0.2%

BEIJING, Sept 2 (Reuters) – China stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as tech shares gained but material and energy shares weighed. ** At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.17% at 3,404.80, while the blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.04%.

** The material sub-index dropped 1.19%, while the energy sub-index fell 0.98%. The banking sub-index slid 0.59%, as the first-half profit fall in some of the biggest lenders weighed.

** The smaller Shenzhen index was up 0.18%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 0.37%, adding gains to its previous rally.

** The ChiNext gained 4.8% last week for its best weekly gain in a month, and 0.5% more so far this week, as investors cheered the latest reform and relaxation of the bourse’s listing and trading rules.

** The U.S. Trade Representative’s office said it extended China tariff exclusions for a several goods, including smart watches and certain medical masks, through the end of 2020, rather than renewing the previous one-year extensions.

** Shanghai shares of YTO Express Group Co surged by 10% daily limit on Wednesday after Alibaba Group said it plans to purchase a 12% stake in the Chinese courier company for 6.6 billion yuan.

** Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.89%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.47%.

** At 07:24 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 6.8267 per U.S. dollar, 0.01% firmer than the previous close of 6.8275. (Reporting by Cheng Leng in Beijing, Luoyan Liu and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

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source: reuters.com