The Shanghai Composite Index opened lower from 3,599.82 and rocked to the highest 3,689.76 in half an hour but then slid all the way down to 3,580.51 at the close, down 35.37 points or 0.98 percent. A few reversals of the trends did not keep it from ending low to hit through the 3,600-point mark.

The Shenzhen Component Index, tracking the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange, opened lower from 11,729.78 and closed at 11717.32, down 66.26 points or 0.56 percent from yesterday's closing.

Of the A shares listed on the two exchanges, 834 went down, 136 ended flat and 483 rose this morning. Large traders were mostly plunging, except for Shenzhen Development Bank with a 3.21 percent hike. Others including China Unicom, China Minsheng Banking Corp and TCL all dived to press the indices down.

Stocks in the finance, media and paper industries performed better this morning. Securities houses, Hongyuan and CITIC, China Life and Industrial Bank became the market leaders. B shares were down while closed-end mutual funds climbed up in the morning.

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