Shanghai stocks tumble as investors await data

Shanghai stocks tumbled on Monday, led by declines among new material and tourism companies.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.98 percent to close at 2,977.08 points.

Market sentiment remained weak as investors awaited the release of key economic data such as China's manufacturing PMI for September. Japanese investment bank Nomura said that it expects September’s official manufacturing PMI to remain in contractionary territory. 

Despite an overall decline on the Shanghai benchmark, shares of automotive electronics companies performed well on Monday. Wuhan issued commercial licenses to three companies to test autonomous vehicles for commercial use on Sunday. The three companies include Baidu, Haylion Technologies and DeepBlue Technology (Shanghai) Co.

New East New Materials Co Ltd fell 6.23 percent to 18.36 yuan (US$2.58) and Poten Environment Group Co Ltd lost 3.33 percent to 12.47 yuan.