SHANGHAI: China stocks closed lower on Thursday as property developers and automobiles weighed, while semiconductors rose after the US government put some Chinese chipmakers on its trade blacklist, strengthening investors’ belief China will offer more support to the industry. The blue-chip CSI300 index fell 0.4% to 4,896.44, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2% to 3,584.18 points.

Real estate developers and insurers lost 0.9% and 0.3%, respectively. Chinese regulators will look into investment activities of insurers which were beyond the allowed investment scope, including those invested into commercial real estates projects, and into unlisted property developers, a state-backed media outlet reported on Thursday.

The media sub-index dropped nearly 3%, led by a slump in metaverse-related stocks, which have surged in recent months on speculative trades. The coal sub-index, the new energy sub-index , and the automobiles sub-index dropped more than 1.2% each.

Semiconductors rose 1.2% after China’s banking and insurance regulator said on Wednesday that lenders should step up support to advanced manufacturers, self-reliant industries and supply chains. The US government put a dozen Chinese companies on its trade blacklist on Wednesday for national security and foreign policy concerns, including some Chinese semiconductor firms. The education industry sub-index surged 3%, as China stepped up efforts to develop its vocational education.