Hong Kong shares slip as tech stocks weigh on fears of e-commerce price war
China's blue-chip CSI300 Index rose 0.5% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.1%. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down 1%.
E-commerce giant Alibaba shares listed in Hong Kong fell nearly 4%, leading declines in Hong Kong, after the company announced a 50-billion-yuan ($6.98 billion) subsidy programme to merchants and customers on Wednesday.
'Alibaba's plan to offer $7 bn of subsidies for food delivery and online retail implies competition is heating up again among China e-commerce companies,' said UBS analysts.
Shares of on-demand delivery giant Meituan dropped 2.5%, while JD.com fell 1.7%.
Meanwhile, a prominent Chinese Communist Party publication called for a crackdown on competition that fuels price wars and squeezes profits in various industries, criticising large companies and local governments for unfair practices.
China's services activity expanded at the slowest pace in nine months in June, as demand weakened and new export orders declined amid a fragile trade truce with the United States, a private sector survey showed on Thursday.
China's semiconductor shares were little moved after US chip design software developers said they have received notices lifting restrictions on exports to China.
The US cleared the way to resume ethane exports to China on Wednesday, sending letters to producers Enterprise Products Partners and rescinding a restrictive license requirement put in place just weeks ago, a sign that the US-China trade truce was on track.
Healthcare shares led gains onshore, up 1.1%, as Beijing ramped up policy support for the country's innovative drugs.
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