China stocks fall on soft economic data; HK gets tech boost

China stocks fell on Wednesday as data showed the country's services activity growth hit an eight-month low in June, while technology companies led Hong Kong shares higher.

China's services activity expanded at the slowest pace in eight months and confidence hit a four-year low, mainly due to slower growth in new orders, a private-sector survey showed, suggesting more stimulus is needed to boost the economy.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong shares fared better, with the Hang Seng Tech Index jumping 2.5 per cent.

Shares of Alibaba Group gained 2.5 per cent after the e-commerce giant said it bought back shares worth $5.8 billion in the second quarter, its biggest single-quarter stock repurchase ever. Tencent also jumped 2.8 per cent on share buyback efforts.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.49 per cent at 2,982.38, snapping a three-day winning streak. The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.24 per cent. The financial sector sub-index was lower by 0.43 per cent, the consumer staples sector was down 0.1 per cent, the real estate index rose 1.11 per cent and the healthcare sub-index dropped 0.37 per cent.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.78 per cent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.295 per cent.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 209.43 points, or 1.18 per cent, to 17,978.57. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 1.27 per cent to 6,455.7. The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.9 per cent, while the IT sector rose 2.7 per cent, the financial sector ended 0.28 per cent lower and the property sector rose 1.97 per cent.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.87 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 1.26 per cent.