Stocks in the mainland and Hong Kong ended lower on Wednesday, dragged by gold shares, while lingering Sino-US trade tensions also weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended trading on Wednesday down 245 points, or 0.94 percent, at 25,781 while the city's tech index fell 1.41 percent.

Across the border, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.07 percent at 3,913 while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.62 percent lower at 12,996.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.79 percent to close at 3,059.

Gold stocks were among the biggest losers in morning deals, following plunging bullion prices in global markets, with the CSI non-ferrous metal industry sub-index closing down 1.34 percent. Western Region Gold slumped 4.93 percent.

The precious metal has had a blockbuster run this year, climbing more than 50 percent as broader geopolitical and economic uncertainty, as well as expectations of US interest rate cuts, spurred demand for the safe-haven asset.

US President Donald Trump said he will discuss a lot of things with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in two weeks but also conceded that the potential meeting may not happen.

Meanwhile, some global investment banks said they no longer expect major monetary stimulus measures in the remainder of this year.

"China could still be on track to hit its 'around 5 percent' growth target with the growth achieved in the first three quarters of this year," Citi analysts said in a note.

"With smaller room to cut for the People's Bank of China, we no longer expect a policy rate cut or reserve requirement ratio cut in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, the focus could be on deployment of fiscal and quasi-fiscal policies."

Analysts at Standard Chartered said they expect another 10-basis-point rate cut in the fourth quarter, with "risk that the rate cut may not happen this year".

Separately, the central committee of the Communist Party of China is holding the fourth plenum, which ends on Thursday. It will outline the government's economic, political and social agenda as well as its development plans for the next five years. A communique is expected to be published on Thursday. (Reuters/Xinhua)