Summary Premier Li Keqiang announced the goal at the start of China's annual National People's Congress
HONG KONG (AFP) - Shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai tumbled Thursday after China set its 2015 economic growth target at "approximately seven" percent, which would be its worst performance in a quarter of a century.
The benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 1.11 percent, or 272.43 points to 24,193.04 on turnover of HK$92.13 billion ($11.89 billion). Shanghai gave up 0.95 percent.
Premier Li Keqiang announced the goal at the start of China s annual National People s Congress, the rubber-stamp legislature.
He unveiled the figure -- which follows a final 7.4 percent rise in 2014, the slowest since 1990 -- along with much lower expectations for inflation and trade growth.
"The lower... target may indicate less broad-based, aggressive easing measures than what the market expected previously," Cao Yang, a Shanghai-based senior analyst at Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, told Bloomberg News.
A slew of data over the past several months has pointed to weakness in the world s number two economy, and fuelled hopes for further stimulus to add to two recent interest rate cuts and a cut in the percentage of cash that banks must keep in reserve.
Adding to selling pressure were more losses on Wall Street. The Dow fell 0.58 percent, the S&P 500 shed 0.44 percent and the Nasdaq eased 0.26 percent.
In Hong Kong trade HSBC fell 2.72 percent to HK$67.90, Internet firm Tencent slipped 0.90 percent to HK$132.10 and casino operator Galaxy Entertainment tumbled 2.57 percent to HK$37.85.
Cheung Kong skidded 0.71 percent to HK$153.20, new World Development was 0.99 percent lower at HK$9.03 and CNOOC gave up 0.73 percent to HK$10.88.
In mainland China the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.95 percent, or 31.05 points, to 3,248.48 on turnover of 373.6 billion yuan ($59.6 billion).
However, the Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China s second exchange, rose 0.27 percent, or 4.53 points, to 1,677.77 on turnover of 355.8 billion yuan after the government announced it is planning a trading link-up with Hong Kong.
Worries over a flood of new share offers which will hit the market next week also hurt sentiment, analysts said.
"Investors pulled out from heavyweight financial stocks and turned to small-caps following their recent rises," Central China Securities analyst Zhang Gang told AFP.
In Shanghai, financial stocks fell. Bank of China dropped 2.81 percent to 3.80 yuan, Ping An Insurance Group lost 2.66 percent to 65.16 yuan and Citic Securities slid 0.32 percent to 28.28 yuan.
Shenzhen-listed electric car maker BYD soared by its 10 percent daily limit to 57.19 yuan after the government vowed to promote new energy vehicles.
Also in Shenzhen, Beijing Enlight Media advanced 10 percent to 36.42 yuan after announcing an affiliate of e-commerce giant Alibaba bought a stake through a private placement.
