China shares fell on Thursday, as a gloomy economic outlook soured investor sentiment, while tech stocks led declines in Hong Kong.

** The CSI300 index fell 0.7% to 4,858.45 at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7% to 3,460.38.

** In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 1.7% to 25,425.28. The Hong Kong China Enterprises Index lost 1.8% to 8,984.90.

** Resource-related stocks declined, with the sub-index losing 1.3%. The energy sub-index fell 2% and the coal sub-index slumped 2.3%.

** Financial chips retreated following yesterday's gain, with the banking and brokerage sub-indexes .CSI399975> down 2.2% and 1.6%, respectively.

** The semiconductor sub-index rose 3.1%, and an index tracking new energy vehicles went up 2.5%.

** The tech-heavy STAR market rose 2.5% on the day.

** Defence sub-index extended its gains amid rising geo-political tensions and was up 2.2%.

**In Hong Kong, tech stocks dragged the city's Hang Seng Index.

** Chinese tech giant Alibaba fell 3.9% to record low of HK$165, in its seventh straight session of losses.

** China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Wednesday rebuked 43 apps for breaking data transfer rules.

** The list included an e-reading app owned by Alibaba Group, Tencent's WeChat, as well as others managed by travel giant Trip.com, and video streamer iQiyi.

** Food-delivery giant Meituan plunged 5.2%, the second biggest decliner on Hang Seng.

** Tencent was down 1%, after rising as much as 3.3% earlier, after its second-quarter profit beat forecasts.

** The internet industry should brace for more regulations and uncertainty, and Beijing ultimately wanted to forge a long-term sustainable path for the sector, Tencent said in a call after the company's results.

** Financial stocks fell in Hong Kong, with the financials sub-index down 1.9%.

** A sub-index tracking energy went down 2.8%, while the property sub-index lost 2.1%.