Chinese stocks retreat amid heavy trading

Following several days of gains, Chinese stocks dropped on Wednesday amid continued heavy trading.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.32 percent lower at 2,975.40 points. The Shenzhen Component Index decreased 0.63 percent to 11,235.60 points. 

Trading volume on the two bourses increased to 1.04 trillion yuan (US$148.6 billion), compared with 999.9 billion yuan in the previous session. 

The GEM (China Growth Enterprise Market) index tumbled 1.45 percent to 2,139.44 points after hitting a three-year high on Tuesday. On the SSE STAR Market, only 16 of its 87 shares gained.

Cloud, online education and agriculture firms, which led gains in recent trading days, all declined on Wednesday.