Shanghai Composite down 0.48% at 2,704 points (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Shanghai , 13 Sep - Chinese shares closed slightly lower, extending last week's selloff and dropping to fresh seven-month lows amid strong Asian markets.

Investors prepared for the Mid-Autumn Festival, with markets set to close early next week.

In mainland stock market dealings most sectors were lower, with consumer stocks leading the losses.

Financial and real estate stocks were again slightly higher on growing speculation over a potential interest rate cut affecting over 5 trillion US dollars in mortgages, which could boost property stocks.

Mainland Chinese stocks underperformed their regional peers on lingering trade tensions amid reports that US lawmakers were preparing more trade restrictions on the country.

Earlier this week the US House of Representatives passed a bill restricting business with Chinese biotech firms like WuXi AppTec and BGI over national security concerns.

Growth concerns also continued to weigh on investor sentiment following a string of disappointing data from the country.

Data earlier this week showed that while China's exports in August grew at their fastest pace since March 2023, imports fell short of expectations due to weak domestic demand.

The latest inflation report released on Monday underscored fragile domestic demand, as producer price deflation deepened.

Investors now awaited August data due next week.

The Shanghai Composite closed down 0.48% at 2,704 points after dropping more than 2% last week, while the Shenzhen CSI 300 fell 0.42% to 3,159 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 13-09-24 11:12:29 (0232) 5 NNNN