China, HK stocks hold firm at two-week high despite Wall Street declines

Hong Kong, April 22 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks held firm on Tuesday, bucking modest losses across Asia after Wall Street fell overnight and with investors awaiting the upcoming Politburo meeting for policy direction.

The Shanghai Composite index .SSEC closed 0.3% higher at 3,299.76 points, while the blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 ended little changed.

*Both indexes are now near their highest level since April 3, just ahead of the market slump triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump's "reciprocal tariffs".

The banking sector .CSI399986 and chip stocks <.CSI931865> climbed 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively, leading the benchmarks higher.

*China's April Politburo meeting, likely to be convened later this week, will be a venue for a reassessment of the tariff situation and for deciding on offsetting policies, analysts at Citi said in a note to clients.

Investors are now looking out for continued efforts to support asset prices and if there'll be an "opportunistic depreciation" FX policy, among others, they added.

Also supporting the markets, China's "national team" and private retail investors have been in sync to buy the dip to defend the market as the Sino-U.S. trade conflict shows no signs of easing.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index .HSI reversed earlier losses and closed up 0.8%, also its highest level since April 3. The Hang Seng Tech Index .HSTECH climbed 0.2%.

Limiting gains, China's e-commerce firm JD.com 9618.HK and delivery platform Meituan 3690.HK both tumbled 6.6% as competition heats up between the companies.

More broadly, other Asian stock markets largely held their ground despite Wall Street's decline overnight.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was little changed. Japan's Nikkei .N225 eased 0.2%.

There's only a "mild risk-off" sentiment in Asia despite a heavy overnight session and the focus ahead will still be the various tariff discussions with the U.S., Wee Khoon Chong, senior markets strategist for APAC at BNY, said in a note.