A mixed day for the markets

Chinese stocks closed mixed on Tuesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index falling for a second day.

The index dipped 0.16 percent to 3,239.66 points after touching an intraday low of 3,215.70. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 0.82 percent to 10,436.62 points. The ChiNext finished 0.09 percent higher at 1,741.17 points.

Turnover for Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses shrank to around 840 billion yuan (US$125 billion) from Monday's 1.067 trillion yuan.

Hotels, catering, and telecommunications outperformed all other sectors to lead the day's gainers on the Shanghai bourse, both gaining 2.2 percent.

Xi'an Catering Co jumped 5.67 percent to 6.71 yuan, Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Development Co gained 2.91 percent to close at 29.67 yuan, and Nanjing Panda Electronics Co surged by the daily 10 percent cap to 12.95 yuan. 

In contrast, chemical product makers, which were among Monday's biggest winners, fell 2.08 percent.

Real estate developers also registered a strong performance with a 1.9 percent overall increase. China Vanke Co, a leading home builder, jumped 6.15 percent to 33.48 yuan and China Fortune Land Development Co surged 8.73 percent to 34.14 yuan.

Kweichow Moutai continued to extend its recent strength by finishing above the 900-yuan-threshold for the second straight day. Shares of the liquor company rose 0.53 percent to 905 yuan after an intraday high of 908.2 yuan.

While brokerage firms remain generally upbeat about the market Minsheng Securities analyst Yang Liu advised investors to look at banks, construction companies, petrochemical firms and automakers.