Mainland and Hong Kong stocks ended flat on Thursday as defensive sectors including banks and energy climbed while developer Vanke's debt woes triggered a property shares selloff that dragged on the market.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended up 17 points, or 0.069 percent, to 25,945 while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was up 0.03 percent at 9,164 and the Hang Seng Tech Index dropped 0.36 percent to 5,598. The Hang Seng Mainland Property Index was down 0.7 percent after losing as much as 2 percent.

Toy maker Pop Mart jumped HK$14, or 6.8 percent, to HK$218.60, a two-week high, after Beijing announced a new plan to boost consumption including promoting upgrades of consumer goods in sectors such as pets and toys.

Up north, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.29 percent at 3,875 while the Shenzhen Component Index was 0.25 percent lower at 12,875 and the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.44 percent to 3,031.

The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.1 percent while the CSI Energy Index climbed 1 percent, the CSI Banks Index gained 0.5 percent and the insurance sector added 0.3 percent, lifting the markets higher.

The combined turnover of the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component indexes was 1.71 trillion yuan, down from 1.78 trillion yuan on Wednesday.

Shares related to motorcycle production, papermaking, and water and gas supply led gains while those engaged in building materials, media and cement saw notable declines.

Dragging down the markets, shares of China Vanke tumbled as much as 8.8 percent to the lowest level since 2008, after the company said it was seeking to delay an onshore bond repayment for the first time.

China's CSI 300 real estate index slid as much as 4.5 percent to the lowest since September 2024 on Vanke's woes, before closing down 2.4 percent.

Meanwhile, the AI sector index gave up earlier gains boosted by a report that Chinese regulators have barred TikTok owner ByteDance from deploying Nvidia chips in new data centers.

"Volatility will remain the dominating theme in the short term" as the year end approaches while investors await more supportive measures before adding more positions, analysts at Yingda Securities said in a note.

On the data front, China's industrial profits fell in October after two months of growth, as businesses continued to grapple with lacklustre domestic demand and an export downturn. (Reuters/Xinhua)