** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index closed down 1%, while the Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.6%.
** The Hang Seng Index dropped 1.7%, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index slumped 2.3%.
** The United States is set to expand the number of troops helping train Taiwanese forces, two U.S. officials said on Thursday, amid heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing.
** China's aerospace defence companies jumped 1.9% after the news, while tech giants listed in Hong Kong plunged 3.3% to lead the decline.
** On the one-year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine, China called for a comprehensive ceasefire to the fighting and gradual de-escalation and easing of the situation.
** However, Western diplomats and analysts have said China's effort to cast itself as a peacemaker on Ukraine reflects its goal to burnish its image rather than a change of stance.
** Chinese property developers and new energy
firms both finished 1.5% lower, and consumer
staples retreated 1.1%.
** China said it would continue to push the application of
artificial intelligence (AI) in the daily economy and that
ChatGPT-like technology had broad applications.
** Shares in AI companies edged up 0.6%.
** Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plunged 5.4% amid
geopolitical tensions, even as the company reported
better-than-expected quarterly revenue on Thursday, helped by
China scrapping COVID-19 curbs and the company's efforts to cut
costs.
** Meanwhile, analysts expect some improvements in the
upcoming factory manufacturing data due on March 1, as Beijing's
exit from its zero-COVID strategy should boost economic
activity.
** "February's manufacturing PMI data will be a key mover of
China's financial markets," analysts at ANZ said in a note.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and
Subhranshu Sahu)
