SHANGHAI, Dec 13 (Reuters) - China stocks dipped slightly as financial shares weighed, while the Hong Kong market was firm ahead of a widely expected interest rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve. ** At 04:05 GMT, the Shanghai Composite index was down 3.98 points or 0.12 percent at 3,276.83. ** China's blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.14 percent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 0.43 percent, the consumer staples sector up 0.97 percent, the real estate index up 0.01 percent and healthcare sub-index down 0.12 percent . ** Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong rose 0.19 percent at 11,333.79 while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.28 percent at 28,873.21. ** The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.09 percent and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 0.42 percent. ** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was firmer by 0.12 percent while Japan's Nikkei index was down 0.55 percent . ** The yuan was quoted at 6.6182 per U.S. dollar, 0.05 percent firmer than the previous close of 6.6215. ** The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd up 6.35 percent, followed by Shanghai Belling Corp Ltd gaining 6.11 percent and Sinochem International Corp up by 5.67 percent. ** The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Huaxin Cement Co Ltd down 5.29 percent, followed by Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co Ltd losing 4.49 percent and Hainan HNA Infrastructure Investment Group Co Ltd down by 3.26 percent. ** So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 5.71 percent, while China's H-share index is up 20.4 percent. Shanghai stocks have declined 1.1 percent this month. ** The top gainers among H-shares were Air China Ltd up 8.81 percent, followed by Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd gaining 3.91 percent and PetroChina Co Ltd up by 2.11 percent. ** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China Pacific Insurance Group Co Ltd which has fallen 3.13 percent, New China Life Insurance Co Ltd which has lost 2.3 percent and Dongfeng Motor Group Co Ltd down by 2.2 percent. ** About 5.83 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 34.0 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 17.17 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 12.46 billion as of the last full trading day. ** As of 04:05 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 30.39 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares. ** The Shanghai stock index is below its 50-day moving average and above its 200-day moving average. ** The price-to-earnings ratio of the Shanghai index was 14.71 as of the last full trading day while the dividend yield was 2 percent. ** So far this week, the market capitalisation of the Shanghai stock index has fallen by 0.20 percent to 28.58 trillion yuan. ** In Hong Kong, the sub-index of the Hang Seng index tracking energy shares rose 0.7 percent while the IT sector fell 0.4 percent. The top gainer on Hang Seng was Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd up 3.64 percent, while the biggest loser was Sunny Optical Technology Group Co Ltd which was down 3.72 percent.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)