China stocks fall as rising Sino-U.S. tensions dent sentiment

SHANGHAI, March 24 (Reuters) - Chinese stocks fell and Hong Kong was mixed on Friday, as elevated Sino-U.S. geopolitical tensions dented investor sentiment after U.S. lawmakers on Thursday accused TikTok of serving harmful content as they pushed to ban the app.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index dropped 0.3% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5%.
** Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 0.2%, and the China Enterprises Index slid 0.1%.
** U.S. lawmakers on Thursday battered TikTok's chief executive, saying the app's short videos were damaging children's mental health, pushing further to ban the app nationwide.
** The case of TikTok, whose parent company is China-based ByteDance, raised tensions between Washington and Beijing. Thursday's congressional hearing came after the Biden administration demanded its Chinese owners divest their stakes or face a potential ban, said TikTok last week.
** Foreign investors recorded a net selling via Stock Connect by midday, after striking a net buying for nine consecutive sessions.
** Lingering concerns from the global banking crisis persisted, as Hong Kong's central bank said on Friday that the city needs to watch carefully for any further "spillover" from U.S. regional banks, although it has very little exposure to the situation in European and U.S. financial institutions.
** In China, telecommunication services shares lost steam and declined 1.74%, with China United Network Communications Ltd , China Mobile Ltd , and China Telecom Corp Ltd , down 4.9%, 2.7%, and 4.1%, respectively.
** In Hong Kong, sector performances were mixed. Tech stocks rose 1.3%, continuing its momentum from yesterday, while energy and financial shares dropped 1.7% and 1.2%, respectively. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Varun H K)