Most industry sectors in decline on Thursday

China stocks extended losses on Thursday with most industry sectors posting declines in general.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.61 percent to end at 3,234.82 points, while the smaller Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.92 percent lower at 12,742.85 points.

The ChiNext Composite Index, meanwhile, tumbled 1.6 percent to 2,483.03 points, and the blue chip CSI300 Index edged down slightly by 0.06 percent to 4,581.98 points.

Trading volume on the two major bourses shrank sharply to 873.2 billion yuan (US$127.66 billion), compared with 1.04 trillion yuan in the previous session, with turnover on the Shanghai main board totaling 309.7 billion yuan, down 31.4 billion yuan from Wednesday, and less than that of the ChiNext board for the third consecutive session.

Stocks of around 440 listed firms lost by over 9 percent, among which nearly 350 ChiNext-listed companies tumbled over 10 percent.

The Chinese mainland markets saw a net influx of 999 million yuan in overseas capital via the Stock Connect schemes linking Shanghai and Shenzhen with Hong Kong.

Yuekai Securities said the short-term market had not yet stabilized, while it expected to see gains especially in the technology and financial shares in the longer term.

Stocks related to environmental protection led the slump. Xiongan Kerong Environment Co, Yonker Environmental Protection Co and SafBon Water Service (Holding) Inc all plunged over 10 percent.

The national defense and military industry was also among the biggest decliners, with Bestway Marine & Energy Technology Co, YaGuang Technology Group Co and Xi'an ChenXi Aviation Technology Corp all plummeting by the daily limit of 20 percent on the ChiNext board.

Yaguang Technology announced in a notice that the company’s shareholders planned to reduce stakes of no more than 25.08 percent, leading to the slump in its share price.

Communication shares, computer firms, the media sector and stocks related to cloud games all performed weakly , while only a few industries, such as food and beverage and real estate, posted gains.