China stocks down on fading hopes of policy support

China shares closed lower on Wednesday, amid weakness in real estate stocks, as hopes of policy support from Beijing to boost the faltering economy faded.

The Shanghai Composite index ended 0.4% down at 2,941.62. The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.6%.

CSI300's the real estate sub-index shed 1.6%, the financial sector fell 0.6% and the consumer staples sector dropped 0.9%. The smaller Shenzhen index lost 0.8% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by almost 1%.

"There were expectations for some policy stimulus benefiting the (property) sector but the macro-economic figures, while missing expectations, are not bad enough to warrant a significant change in policy," said Gerry Alfonso, analyst at Shenwan Hongyuan Securities.

China reported its weakest quarterly economic growth in three decades during the third quarter as the US trade war hit factory production.

US President Donald Trump will likely meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in Chile. The forum will be held in Santiago from Nov. 11 to Nov. 17.

China's Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng had said on Tuesday that China and the United States had achieved some progress in their trade talks so far and that any problem could be resolved as long as both sides respected each other.

China offered major Chinese and international soybean processors waivers that would exempt the companies from steep tariffs on imports of up to 10 million tonnes of US soybeans, two people briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.5%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed up 0.3%. The largest percentage losers on the Shanghai index were Guangzhou Kingmed Diagnostics Group Co Ltd, down 9.7%, Tonghua Dongbao Pharmaceutical Co Ltd, losing 9.5%, and Getein Biotech Inc, down by 8.8%. So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up almost 18% and the CSI300 has risen 28.6%. Shanghai stocks have risen 1.5% this month.

About 12.38 billion shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange. The volume in the previous trading session was 11.75 billion. The Shanghai stock index is above its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average.