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. That brought the cumulative tally for the January-to-July period to 22.82 million new accounts.Margin trading activity painted a similar picture. China Securities Data, a unit of the central securities depository for mainland China’s securities markets, 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. The CSI 300 Index, which tracks the 300 largest and most liquid stocks listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges, dropped about 13 per cent in July, while the Shanghai Composite Index fell about 5 per cent. Electronic chemicals, semiconductors and optical-module makers bore the brunt of profit-taking.The retreat mirrored a broad pullback in the artificial intelligence trade across Asia. Investors questioned the need for massive capital spending on data centres and cloud-service infrastructure. South Korea’s Kospi plunged more than 18 per cent in July.Hong Kong-listed chipmakers have also seen volatility. In Hong Kong, stock prices of GigaDevice Semiconductor tumbled about 45 per cent, while Montage Technology dropped more than 26 per cent.