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Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks fall on Middle East tensions

Mainland China and Hong Kong stocks fell on Friday, tracking their local peers, pressured by reports of an Israeli attack on Iran that sparked rising safehaven bets.

** The most recent advancements triggered issues over a widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza to include other countries in the Middle East, triggering a flight to safety as financiers swept up typical safe-haven possessions.

** Preliminary U.S. report late on Thursday stated Israel launched rockets at Iran in retaliation for an April 13 attack on Israel that was in response to a supposed Israeli attack that eliminated Iranian military leaders on April 1. Iranian authorities on Friday informed there was no missile attack.

** It's a big dampener on threat properties, including equities and most currencies, said Christopher Wong, currency strategist at OCBC Bank.

** At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.4% at 3,062.00 points. ** China's blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.88%, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.36%, the consumer staples sector down 1.32%, the property index down 1.4% and the healthcare sub-index down 1.23%. ** Chinese H-shares noted in Hong Kong fell 1.19% to 5,734.72, while the Hang Seng Index was down 1.23% at 16,184.02. ** The smaller sized Shenzhen index was down 1.08%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 2.2%. and Shanghai's tech-focused STAR50 index was down. 1.76%. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index. was weaker by 1.96% while Japan's Nikkei index. was down 2.61%. ** The yuan was estimated at 7.2393 per U.S. dollar,. 0.02% weaker than the previous close of 7.2382. ** The largest portion gainers in the main Shanghai Composite. index were China Aluminum International Engineering Corp Ltd. , up 10.05%, followed by Well Lead Medical Co Ltd. , gaining 10.04%, and Zhejiang Tiantai Xianghe. Industrial Co Ltd, up by 10.03%. ** The largest portion losses in the Shanghai index were. Jiangsu Boxin Investing & & Holdings Co Ltd, down. about 10%, followed by Suzhou Institute of Building Science. Group Co Ltd, losing 9.502%, and Triumph Science &&. Innovation Co Ltd, down by 9.33%.