Chinese shares close lower Wednesday

Chinese stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.37 percent, at 2,953.67 points.

The smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.35 percent lower at 10,174.16 points. The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.42 percent to close at 2,146.61 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses expanded to 427.88 billion yuan (69.92 billion U.S. dollars) from 382 billion yuan on Tuesday, indicating that more investors dumped holdings to cash in.

Shares related to gold, paper making and printing led the gains. Shandong Gold Mining Co. Ltd. rose 5.88 percent to end at 29.55 yuan per share. Zhejiang Jingxing Paper Joint Stock Co. surged by the daily limit of 10 percent to end at 6.91 yuan per share.

Stocks in coal mining and processing, and securities were among the biggest losers. Inner Mongolia PingZhuang Energy Resources Co. Ltd. shed by the daily limit of 10 percent to end at 5.97 yuan per share. Everbright Securities lost 2.42 percent to close at 17.74 yuan.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell below 3,000 points at closing on April 20 and has since stayed under that mark with mild fluctuations.

Guo Yiming, an analyst with Jufeng Investment Information, said there is a strong possibility of the market experiencing another plunge, so investors are advised to maintain a wait-and-see attitude, and dump holdings to secure gains when indexes rise.