Chinese stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.01 percent, at 3,016.85 points.
The smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.2 percent lower at 10,620.58 points.
The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.34 percent to close at 2,233.92 points.
Turnover on the two bourses stood at 733.5 billion yuan (111.1 billion U.S. dollars), up from 707.8 billion yuan the previous trading day.
The steel sector performed well as China's large steel plants saw improved profits and narrowed losses in the first five months of this year thanks to their destocking efforts.
Major iron and steel enterprises raked in 8.736 billion yuan in the Jan.-May period, up over 700 percent year on year while fewer firms reported losses, the China Iron and Steel Association said on Wednesday.
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