China stocks close down, led by weak financials

Chinese stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with weak financial shares and oil producers being the main contributors.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.96 percent to end at 3,174.13 points, far from the intra-day peak of 3,288.98 points. The Shenzhen Component Index fell 0.83 percent to end at 11,116.55 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses expanded slightly to 534.41 billion yuan (87.04 billion U.S. dollars) from 517.2 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 640 to 251 in Shanghai and by 889 to 513 to Shenzhen.

Share prices of heavyweights, including oil producers, commercial banks and insurers all fell, dragging the benchmark index down, said Chen Wei, an analyst with CITIC Securities.

China's services purchasing managers' index (PMI) grew at its slowest pace in six months in January, according to HSBC Bank (China), marking downward pressure on the economy, also denting investor sentiment.

Oil giant PetroChina went down 2.4 percent to 11.41 yuan. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China fell 2 percent to 4.41 yuan while China Pacific Insurance declining 3.68 percent to 32.74 yuan.

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