shanghai feb 17 reuters  chinese shares rose on thursday led by nonferrous metal and new energy stocks on bets for more policy easing as inflation eased while signs of less a hawkish stance by us federal reserve over rate hikes also boosted sentiment the csi300 index csi300 rose 06 to 464649 at the end of the morning session while the shanghai composite index ssec gained 04 to 347782 the hang seng index hsi dropped 06 to 2456450 the hong kong china enterprises index hsce lost 06 to 863078  nonferrous metal csi000811 gained 36 with lithium stocks leading gains youngy co 002192sz soared 10 and ganfeng lithium 002460sz jumped 84  new energy stocks csi399808 rose 36 while new energy vehicles csi399976 went up 39  environmental governance stocks csi399806 added 28 after china said it will collect data on soil quality and use in its third national soil survey running from 2022 until the end of 2025 as part of an effort to ensure grain security  however real estate developers csi000952 lost 2 while tourism companies csi930633 retreated 27 as hong kong and some mainland cities are battling with covid19 outbreaks  data on wednesday showed chinas factorygate inflation eased to its slowest pace in six months and consumer price growth also softened in january potentially leaving more room for the peoples bank of china to ease policy to support the slowing economy read more  hong kong shares were trading sideways but were down 06 at midday break as investors weighed risks of a ukraine invasion against signs that the us federal reserve wont be as aggressive as feared in tightening monetary policy read more  the hang seng tech index hstech eased 04 while the hang seng finance index hsnf dropped 09  the healthcare sector hscih went up 09 with wuxi biologics 2269hk jumping 39 to become the top gainer on the hang seng index