Chinese stocks were mixed in early trading on Thursday and the yuan gave back some of its recent gains against the dollar as a targeted cut of reserve requirements for banks took effect and amid heightened China-US trade tensions.

Markets are on edge ahead of Friday, when US tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese products - and retaliatory Chinese tariffs on US goods of the same value - are expected to kick in. At 0204 GMT, the yuan was trading at 6.6357 per dollar after ending the late night session at 6.6330.

The blue chip CSI300 Index was up around 0.2 per cent, but the Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.1 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was also down, about 0.2 per cent. The reserve requirement cut, which was announced on June 24, releases about 700 billion yuan in liquidity, the People's Bank of China said on Thursday.