NEW YORK, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- U.S.-listed Chinese companies traded mostly lower on Thursday, with seven of the 10 stocks by weight in the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index ending the day on a downbeat note.

Shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group and BeiGene, Ltd. dropped 2.71 percent and 1.98 percent, respectively, leading the laggards in the top 10 stocks of the index. Shares of Baidu Inc. rose 1.05 percent, leading the gainers in the top 10 stocks.

U.S. stocks closed mixed on Thursday amid surging Apple shares and lingering trade tension worries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.66 points, or 0.03 percent, to 25,326.16. The S&P 500 rose 13.86 points, or 0.49 percent, to 2,827.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 95.40 points, or 1.24 percent, to 7,802.69.

The Cboe Volatility index, widely considered the best fear gauge in the stock market, decreased 7.30 percent to 12.19 on Thursday.

As of Wednesday, the S&P U.S. Listed China 50 index stood at 3,106.98, marking a 1.47-percent decrease for the month-to-date returns and a 0.52-percent gain for the year-to-date returns. Enditem