HONG KONG -- Chinese stocks led Asian markets lower on Thursday after the country's leaders cut the annual growth target for the world's No. 2 economy.

Keeping score: Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.6 per cent to 24,309.53 and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China lost 1.2 per cent to 3,240.41. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia, where commodity producers have been highly dependent on Chinese demand, slipped 0.4 per cent to 5,880.70. Indexes in Singapore, Taiwan and New Zealand also dropped. Other major Asian benchmarks rose weakly, with Japan's Nikkei 225 up 0.3 per cent to 18761.36. South Korea's Kospi edged up 0.1 per cent to 2,000.56.

China target: The communist leaders of the world's second-biggest economy announced an official growth target of about 7 per cent, down from 7.5 per cent last year. Premier Li Keqiang said in a report to China's ceremonial national legislature that the goal was part of overall efforts to create a "moderately prosperous society." The new official benchmark comes after China's economy expanded 7.4 per cent in 2014, its slowest pace in nearly a quarter century.

The quote: Analysts said markets had mostly factored the new GDP growth target into prices but the news would still affect Asian trading. The target is "an enviable number no doubt for most major economies," said Nicholas Teo at CMC Markets in Singapore. "For China, however, this would represent a slowdown that will be felt domestically even as the country continues to readjust and reposition itself for this next phase of economic reform."

Wall Street: U.S. stocks ended slightly lower as investors pulled back after a strong run that saw benchmarks hitting record highs earlier this week. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 106.47 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 18,096.90. The S&P 500 gave up 9.25 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 2,098.53. The Nasdaq composite fell 12.76 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4,967.14.

Energy: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 21 cents to $51.75 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.01 to settle at $51.53 a barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international benchmark, added 6 cents to $60.61 in London.

Currencies: The dollar rose to 119.79 yen from 119.73 yen in the previous session. The euro fell to $1.1072 from $1.1077.