China, Hong Kong stocks fall as investors temper hopes for Trump-Xi meeting

On Wednesday, China and Hong Kong stocks declined as investors dampened hopes for a forthcoming meeting between US and Chinese presidents, amid rising trade tensions with Europe. The real estate sector, however, saw a boost due to indications of new government backing. The CSI300 Index fell by 0.5%, while the Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.4%. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong dropped 0.8%.

Oxford Economics posited, "The planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping signifies the US-China relationship is becoming more predictable." Nonetheless, the think tank forecasted, "trade, technology, and security policies will likely remain on a more restrictive trajectory," anticipating a "calmer, but not closer, relationship."

The primary agenda for the leaders' September 24 meeting was to decide whether Trump and Xi would endorse a prolongation of the trade truce from last year, which averted a major global economic shock. The European Central Bank on Tuesday highlighted how China's industrial transformation was causing European firms to lose ground in global markets.

Rating agency Fitch announced that China's trade shock had impacted the euro zone, particularly Germany, which is export-oriented. The agency reduced China's 2026 growth forecast by 0.1 percentage point to 4.5%, citing growing economic imbalances.

China's carmakers index dropped 0.6% as some European auto executives and politicians advocated for localized content rules and increased tariffs to curb vehicle sales from China. An index of China's new energy vehicles declined nearly 1%. Despite this, a rebound in tech shares in both China and Hong Kong faltered. Property shares in both markets surged following a Reuters report that Chinese regulators instructed certain banks to refrain from categorizing overdue loans to China Vanke as non-performing and extend repayment deadlines for the state-owned developer.