New account openings and leveraged trading in mainland China’s stock market slowed in July, as a global artificial intelligence-linked sell-off dented investor appetite following a positive first half of the year for technology shares. The Shanghai Stock Exchange opened 2.66 million new A-share accounts in July, down 7 per cent from June, according to exchange data. China Securities Data, a unit of the central securities depository for mainland China’s stock exchanges, said 139,400 new margin-trading accounts were opened market-wide in July, down 22.12 per cent from June. The pullback coincided with a rout in mainland technology shares in July. In Hong Kong, stock prices of GigaDevice Semiconductor tumbled about 45 per cent, while Montage Technology dropped more than 26 per cent.