* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used -1.7%, Shanghai->HK daily quota used 2.5%
* FTSE China A50 -1.2%
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 31 (Reuters) – Hong Kong shares fell on Wednesday, marking their first monthly drop in six, as a slew of weak earnings results and disappointing profit expectations dragged down property and material stocks. ** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 199.15 points, or 0.7%, at 28,378.35. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 0.44% to 10,972.04. ** The Hang Seng lost 2.1% in March in its first monthly decline since September 2020. ** Worse-than-expected earnings of some real estate companies sent down the real estate sub-index of the Hang Seng. The property sector dipped 2.68%. ** Hong Kong shares of China Vanke Co were down 5.29%, as analysts cut their earnings forecasts after the developer reported its annual results on Tuesday. ** Consumer and material stocks also dropped, down 2.44% and 3.33% respectively. ** The top gainer on the Hang Seng was CITIC Ltd, which rose 2.22%, while the biggest loser was WH Group Ltd , which fell 12.74%. ** China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed down 0.43% at 3,441.91, while the blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 0.91% despite strong factory data. ** Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.42%, while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.86%. (Reporting by Cheng Leng in Beijing, Luoyan Liu and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
