SHANGHAI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - China stocks ended lower on Thursday, tracking a sell-off in global equities, as Moscow attacked Ukraine with strikes on major cities after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a special military operation in the east.
** The blue-chip CSI300 index closed 2% lower at 4,529.32, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.7% to 3,429.96.
** Russian forces fired missiles at several Ukrainian cities and landed troops on its south coast on Thursday, officials and media said.
** China reiterated a call for all parties involved in the situation in Ukraine to exercise restraint and rejected a foreign journalist's description of Russia's actions as an invasion.
** "Asian stock markets generally recorded significant losses today, and the worsening situation in Ukraine further impacted financial markets," said Kenny Ng, a securities strategist at China Everbright Securities International.
** China will keep the real estate market stable and step up coordination and precision of property policies this year, the country's housing minister said.
** The real estate sub-index eased 1.5%, while the financial sub-index retreated 2%.
** Consumer staples slid 2.7%, while information technology stocks dropped 2.2%.
** Oil stocks rose against a broader market slump on global supply concerns, with China Oilfield Services and PetroChina up 8.8% and 4.2%, respectively.
** "The simple strategy is to bet on a spike in inflation, that means buying oil and agricultural products," said Yuan Yuwei, partner at Water Wisdom Asset Management in Hang Zhou. "China will likely boost support to sectors, such as agriculture, semiconductors and new energy."
** Coal miners ended 1.2% lower. China said on Thursday it has set price guide for benchmark thermal coal to cool rally.
** The escalating geopolitical tensions sent the defence sub-index 0.8% higher.
** The Hang Seng index fell 3.2% to 22,901.56, while the China Enterprises Index lost 3.4% to 8,030.90 points.
** Hong Kong-listed shares of Russian aluminium producer Rusal tumbled 10.7%.
** Russia produces around 6% of the world's aluminium. Sanctions on Rusal in 2018 drove the metal's price up 35% in days.
** Alibaba's Hong Kong-listed shares fell 6.7% to their lowest ahead of earnings release later in the day.
** Chinese offshore-listed tech firms are facing a double whammy of fresh regulatory crackdowns by Beijing and growing geopolitical tensions over Ukraine, sending the Hang Seng Tech Index down more than 4% to a record low.
** Tencent Holdings and Meituan declined more than 3.5% each.
** Mainland developers listed in Hong Kong slumped 5.2%, with Shimao down 11.3%, after a trustee said roughly $170 million worth of asset-backed notes guaranteed by the developer may not be redeemed on maturity.
** Logan Group, Zhenro Properties and Sunac plunged between 8% and 15%.
** Consumer discretionary stocks fell 4%, while the finance index lost 3.2%.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
