(Updates to the close)

SHANGHAI, April 30 (Reuters) - Mainland China stocks

finished lower on Tuesday as investors were largely on the

sidelines ahead of the long Labor Day holiday and the U.S.

Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting this week, while Hong

Kong shares inched higher.

** The Hong Kong stock market will be closed on May 1 for Labor

Day holiday, while mainland financial markets will be closed for

extended holidays from Wednesday, with trading set to resume

next Monday.

** Investors will quickly shift their attention to the upcoming

Fed policy meeting and China's month-end Politburo meeting.

** Markets were unruffled by China's April official factory

survey, which showed manufacturing activity expanded at a slower

pace.

** Separately, China will step up its support for the economy,

flexibly using policy tools, including banks' reserve

requirement ratios (RRR) and interest rates, the Politburo, a

top decision-making body of the ruling Communist Party, was

quoted by state media as saying on Tuesday, after the mainland

market close.

** At the close of trade, China's main Shanghai Composite index

closed down 0.26% at 3,104.82 points, while the

blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 0.54%.

** The Hang Seng index was up 16.12 points or 0.09% at

17,763.03. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell

0.14% to 6,273.75.

** The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose more than 7% in April,

booking the biggest monthly gain since January 2023, while both

the Shanghai Composite Index and blue-chip CSI 300 index

recorded their third monthly rises.

** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares

rose 1.9%, while the IT sector dipped 0.54%,

the financial sector ended 0.36% higher and the property

sector dipped 0.03%.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index

was weaker by 0.05%, while Japan's Nikkei index

closed up 1.24%.

** The yuan was quoted at 7.2391 per U.S. dollar at

0814 GMT, 0.2% weaker than the previous close of 7.225.