Published on 03/04/2026 at 03:32 am EST
(Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks closed lower on Wednesday, led by oil and maritime shipping companies as investor sentiment remained risk-off amid the escalating Middle East conflict.
Worries that a wider conflict could trigger an energy shock, lift inflation and delay rate cuts weighed on Asian markets. Focus also turned to announcements from the annual parliamentary meeting due this week for policy signals.
China's blue-chip CSI300 Index ended 1.1% lower, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1%.
Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index hit a six-month low during Wednesday's session, falling 2%.
Onshore selling was led by oil, maritime transport and port stocks.
The CSI Oil and Gas Industry Index dropped 2.8% after China Petroleum & Chemical, CNOOC and PetroChina issued abnormal-trading notices following more than 20% gains over the past three sessions; the firms said operations are normal and cautioned on geopolitical uncertainty in crude prices.
Nanjing Port slumped 10%, while Ningbo Marine dropped 8.6%.
"Geopolitical risks remain unclear and A-shares are in a catch-up decline. In a high-volume downswing, investors should avoid rushing to bottom-fish and watch developments in the conflicts and annual parliamentary meeting for possible policy signals," analysts at Huatai Futures said in a note.
The country's top leadership will publish its annual government work report and budget plans at the opening session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday, as well as the outline of its 15th Five-Year Plan for 2026-2030, a sweeping blueprint that sets priorities for industrial policy.
"We expect Beijing to lower the 2026 GDP growth target slightly to 4.5%-5.0% from around 5.0% in 2025," said Ting Lu, chief China economist at Nomura.
He added that Beijing is likely to keep the official fiscal deficit target at 4.0% of GDP and lift net financing of off-budget ultra-long central government special bonds to 1.6 trillion yuan ($231.29 billion) and local government special bonds to 4.8 trillion yuan, from 1.3 trillion and 4.4 trillion, respectively, announced in March 2025.
Limited gains elsewhere helped soften losses. The CSI Defense Index rebounded about 1.4% after a sharp selloff in the previous session, and the CSI Rare Earth Index climbed nearly 1%.
In Hong Kong, financials led declines, falling 2.9%, while tech majors slid 1%, extending losses to a third session.
An official survey showed China's manufacturing activity contracted for a second month in February, underscoring pressure on factory margins as weak domestic demand and investment offset resilient exports.
($1 = 6.9176 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Eileen Soreng and Ronojoy Mazumdar)

Sumber : Reuters