Technology firms' shares depress the market

China stocks fell on Tuesday with the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.4 percent at 3,360.15 points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index lost 1.05 percent.

Tech firms lost markedly, tracking the overnight weakness in the Nasdaq Composite, the US tech shares. The tech-heavy startup ChiNext Composite Index shed 1.45 percent to 2,773.22 points. 

The STAR 50 Index, which tracks the 50 biggest and most representative companies listed on the tech-heavy STAR Market for more than six months, slumped 2.91 percent.

Most industry sectors lost, while precious metals and automotive industry suffered biggest losses of the day with the former plummeting 3.32 percent and the latter by 2.10 percent.

Bucking the trend, airlines, the petroleum industry, travel agencies, hotels and the liquor industry gained.

Turnover on the two major bourses shrank to 981.2 billion yuan (US$148.02 billion). The mainland markets saw a net outflow of 4.11 billion yuan in overseas capital via Stock Connect schemes linking Shanghai and Shenzhen with Hong Kong.