China stocks reversed earlier gains and fell in volatile trading on Wednesday as investors cut their positions in leading developers that posted handsome gains in recent months.
An index tracking major real estate firms in China had been on a five-month winning streak until February, reports Reuters.
The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 1.08 per cent, with its financial sector sub-index lower by 2.04 per cent, the consumer staples sector down 1.25 per cent, the real estate index down 5.69 per cent and healthcare sub-index down 0.5 per cent.
The smaller Shenzhen index was unchanged for the day and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was higher by 1.5 per cent.
The yuan was quoted at 6.2554 per US dollar, 0.41 per cent firmer than the previous close of 6.281.
The top gainer of the main Shanghai Composite index was Zhongnongfa Seed Industry Group Co Ltd up 10.18 per cent.
The most loser of the Shanghai index was Routon Electronic Co Ltd down 10.06 per cent.
So far this year, the Shanghai stock index is up 1.92 per cent, while China's H-share index is up 8.3 per cent. Shanghai stocks have declined 3.17 per cent this month.
About 16.40 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 77.1 per cent of the market's 30-day moving average of 21.29 billion shares a day.
The volume traded was 28.06 billion as of the last full trading day.
