Mainland stocks ended higher on Wednesday as gains in consumer and energy offset tech losses, while a private survey showed China's services activity grew at the fastest pace in three months in January.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index ended up 12 points, or 0.05 percent, at 26,847.

The China enterprises index edged down almost five points, or 0.05 percent, at 9,048 while the tech index fell 100 points, or 1.84 percent, to end at 5,366.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up 34 points, or 0.85 percent, at 4,102.

The Shenzhen Component Index was up 29 points, or 0.21 percent, at 14,156 while the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, was 13 points, or 0.4 percent, down at 3,311.

The combined turnover of the main Shanghai and Shenzhen indexes was 2.48 trillion yuan, down from 2.54 trillion yuan on Tuesday.

The mainland's services reading, buoyed ⁠by stronger new orders and the quickest hiring since July, contrasted ‍with lingering softness elsewhere in the economy.

"The big picture is still that the economy appears to have lost some momentum last month, largely due to domestic weakness in manufacturing and ‌construction," analysts at Capital Economics said in a note.

Defensives led gains onshore. ‍Banking stocks rose 1.4 percent while consumer staple ‌shares extended gains, up 2.1 percent, ‌supported ‌by a rebound in liquor stocks since the end of January.

Solar names rallied, with the CSI Solar Power Equipment Index jumping ⁠nearly 7 percent after local media reported that a team linked to Elon Musk recently visited several photovoltaic firms in China. Coal producers also advanced, sending the the sector's index up ‌7.6 percent.

Meanwhile, onshore artificial intelligence shares fell ‍more than 3 percent to a one-month low, following steep losses in US and European equities on fears that advancements in AI could supplant traditional software. The CSI Software Services Index was down 1.8 percent. (Reuters/Xinhua)