Chinese stocks tumble amid thin trading

Chinese stocks suffered a setback on the last trading day of September amid subdued sentiment among investors.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.92 percent to close at 2,905.19 points after touching an intraday high of 2,936.48 points. For the whole of September, the index gained 0.66 percent.

The smaller Shenzhen Component Index lost 1.08 percent to 9,446.24 points, but increased 0.86 percent on a monthly basis. The ChiNext dropped 1.21 percent to 1,627.55 points and advanced 1.03 percent from a month ago.

Turnover on the Shanghai bourse shrank to 142.6 billion yuan (US$20 billion), down from Friday's 153.3 billion yuan.

Semiconductor manufacturers and securities firms led the day's declines, shedding 2.48 percent and 2.42 percent on average.

Espressif Systems, which is listed on the new STAR market, dropped 14.98 percent to close at 150.48 yuan and Shengyi Technology plunged by the daily limit of 10 percent to 24.94 yuan.

No securities companies managed to register gains, with Hongta Securities dropping the most by 5.15 percent.

Bucking an overall downward trend, agricultural service providers and livestock and poultry firms were among the few industries that managed to finish in positive territory, gaining 0.45 percent and 0.28 percent on average respectively.