Chinese stocks closed lower on Wednesday, ending a four-day winning streak, partly due to fears of tight liquidity.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 1 percent at 3,250.03 points.
The smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.2 percent lower at 11,012.19 points.
The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, gained 1.05 percent to close at 2,183.05 points.
Analysts said moves by the central bank to defend a weaker yuan were sucking funds from the banking system, pushing up domestic borrowing costs.
The benchmark overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (Shibor), a measure of the cost at which Chinese banks lend to one another, and a key barometer of liquidity, rose for the 15th straight day.
On Wednesday's interbank market, Shibor edged up 1.4 basis points to 2.316 percent.
The Shibor for seven-day loans increased 1.5 basis points to 2.496 percent, a new high in 15 months.
The Shibor for three-month loans rose 1.86 basis points to 3.0358 percent.
Turnover on the two bourses shrank to 563.5 billion yuan (around 81.8 billion U.S. dollars), down sharply from the previous trading day. Non-ferrous metals led the declines.
Jiangxi Copper Co., a copper producer, fell 4.7 percent to close at 19.11 yuan. Huludao Zinc Industry Co. retreated 4.71 percent to end at 6.27 yuan.
Textile machinery shares performed strongly. Geron Co. jumped 6.94 percent to finish at 64.9 yuan.
Latest comments