Chinese shares falter on Thursday

Chinese share markets retreated on Thursday, with 3,170 shares losing ground while only 409 made gains.

At the close of market hours, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index finished down 1.04 percent at 2,901.18 points, the Shenzhen Component Index shed 1.58 percent to end at 9,154.65 points, and the blue chip CSI300 index sank by 0.95 percent to 3,768.40 points.

Almost all sectors posted declines, led by shipbuilding, environmental protection and software, with only precious metals rising slightly.

Turnover on the two major bourses totaled 363.06 billion yuan (US$52.75 billion), about 149.1 billion yuan shares were traded on the Shanghai exchange. The volume in the previous trading session was 350 billion yuan.

The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Nuode Investment Co Ltd, Hongta securities Co Ltd and Quectel Wireless Solutions Co Ltd.

The largest percentage losers in the Shanghai index were Poten Environment Group, Danhua Chemical Technology Co Ltd and Zhuzhou Times New Material Technology Co Ltd.