Chinese stocks closed slightly lower Tuesday after a roller coaster day's trading, as lithium batteries, rare earth and alcohol shares headed south despite a rally from securities and banks.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended the day down 0.35 percent, at 2,878.56 points. The smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.88 percent lower at 10,131.86 points. Combined turnover on the two bourses rose to 592.8 billion yuan (90.29 billion U.S. dollars) from the previous trading day's 500 billion yuan.
The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 1.30 percent to close at 2,092.00 points. Led by the strong performance of securities, the Shanghai index once rose above 2,900 points shortly after opening the morning session, but gradually lost ground after.
It managed to swing back into positive territory in the afternoon session before losing steam again and ending the day down. Non-ferrous metals, transportation and catering services were among the big losers, with shares dipping more than 2 percent on Tuesday.
The price of Huayou Cobalt Co. Ltd. dropped by nearly the daily limit of 10 percent to 37.38 yuan. Securities and banks gathered steam, up 1.03 percent and 0.20 percent. Other major shares in Asia were reportedly higher Tuesday, with growing hopes that Britain will vote to remain in the European Union in the referendum this week.
Tokyo stocks rose Tuesday for the third-trading day amid a weaker yen. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 203.81 points, or 1.28 percent, from Monday at 16,169.11. The Hang Seng Index gained 0.77 percent, or 158.24 points to close at 20,668.44.
Overnight, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.7 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 0.6 percent and the NASDAQ composite gained 0.8 percent.
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