HONG KONG: China stocks traded sideways around one-month lows on Wednesday as investors were cautious ahead of the “Golden Week” holiday, while Sino-US tensions also weighed on sentiment.

Shares in Hong Kong rose, tracking a rebound in US stock futures after buybacks and earnings beats boosted technology giants in after-hours trade.

China’s blue-chip CSI 300 Index slid 0.09%, while the Shanghai Composite Index was flat.

The Hang Seng Index climbed 0.71%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index went up 0.80%, both snapping three straight sessions of losses.

Nine Republican senators called on the Biden administration to impose sanctions against Huawei Cloud and other Chinese cloud service providers, citing national security concerns.

“We believe that the market focus will be gradually shifted from themes and geopolitics to economic data and corporate earnings,” said Chris Liu, a senior portfolio manager, China A-shares at Invesco.

Based on booking data from many online travel agencies, China’s tourism industry is likely to see a strong Golden Week holiday, he said.

Investors rotated out of the crowded artificial intelligence (AI) sector, leading to a 4.3% decline in the AI index. Photovoltaic stocks surged 6.5% and the new energy sector gained 5.2 percent.