China stocks ended lower on Tuesday, weighed down by semiconductor stocks, ahead of the release of more economic data in the world’s second-largest economy, while Hong Kong shares edged up.

** China’s blue-chip CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.4% and 0.5%, respectively, on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng Index was up 0.3%.

** Semiconductor shares traded in the onshore market slumped 4%, after Nvidia extended losses in its New York session.

** China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom were largely unaffected after sources said the Biden administration is investigating the companies over concerns they could exploit access to American data through their U.S. cloud and internet businesses by providing it to Beijing.

** Investors will now look out for China’s May industrial profits, due this Friday, and its June manufacturing survey, expected on Sunday.

** At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.44% at 2,950.00.

** The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.54%, with its financial sector sub-index 0.22% lower, the consumer staples sector up 0.23%, the real estate index up 1.54%, and the healthcare sub-index down 0.61%.

** The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 0.46% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was 1.81% lower.

** Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was up 0.32%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed up 0.95%.

** As of 0717 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 7.2623 per U.S. dollar, 0.03% weaker than the previous close of 7.2598.

** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was up 45.19 points, or 0.25%, at 18,072.90. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.36% to 6,464.49.

** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares rose 0.8%, while the IT sector advanced 0.15%, the financial sector ended 0.17% higher and the property sector was up 0.62%. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sonia Cheema)