Chinese stock markets took a dive Tuesday, wiping away most of the gains they recorded Monday as anxieties about the country's economy flared up again among investors.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 15.50 points, or 0.75 percent, to close at 2,043.65; while the Shenzhen Component Index shed 117.84 points, or 1.41 percent, to finish at 8,243.83.
Both benchmarks opened higher Tuesday thanks to their solid showings during the previous day and stayed on a roughly even keel throughout early trading. Huge plunges in the heavily weighted banking, insurance, securities, real estate, shipping and steel sectors in the afternoon session eventually sent both indices deep into loss territory.
In what was a broadly down day for the mainland markets, only a few topical sectors - including brewing, Internet and electronic payment - were able to avoid major losses.
With a slew of economic indicators for August, including data on inflation, industrial output and retail sales, set for release this week, many investors are playing it safe and holding off from making any big moves until the government rolls out more policy support to spur economic growth, say analysts.
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