SHANGHAI: Mainland China stocks ended lower on Thursday, dragged by property shares, while Hong Kong shares rose after a slew of softer US economic data raised investor bets on Federal Reserve interest rate cuts later this year.

Softer-than-expected US economic data on Wednesday, including weak services and ADP employment reports, pointed to a slowdown in the world’s largest economy, following an increase in initial applications for unemployment benefits last week.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.83% at 2,957.57 points.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.51% at 3,445.81 points, with property shares leading the losses. A sub-index tracking the real estate sector shed 3.08% at the close of trades.

The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 1.58% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.777%.

“We believe the market still has scope to outperform with continued government policy support and increasing focus on capital returns through dividends and buybacks,” Sunil Tirumalai, chief GEM equity strategist at UBS, said in a note.

“Geopolitics need to be monitored, especially in the run-up to the US elections in?November 2024,” he said, adding they continued to have an “Overweight” rating on Chinese stocks.

In Hong Kong, however, the Hang Seng index ended up 49.71 points, or 0.28%, at 18,028.28. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.23% to 6,470.86.

The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.8%, while the IT sector rose 0.75%, the financial sector ended 0.32% lower and the property sector dipped 0.63%.

Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 1.14%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.82%.