(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Milano, 31 mar - Chinese share prices closed lower, as investor sentiment was dampened by a further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

Markets remained under pressure after oil prices neared 116 dollars following an Iranian strike on a Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai and subsequent US strikes on a munitions depot in Iran, even as reports indicated that US president Donald Trump might be willing to end the military campaign against Iran without the full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

On the economic data front, the official manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose 1.4 percentage points to 50.4 in March, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The non-manufacturing PMI also increased by 0.6 points to 50.1, with the sub-index for new orders growing by 3 points to 51.6.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.80% to close at 3,891.86.

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(RADIOCOR) 31-03-26 09:39:48 (0227) 5 NNNN