Chinese shares close lower - March 29

BEIJING - Chinese shares remained in negative territory on Tuesday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 1.28 percent, at 2,919.83 points. The smaller Shenzhen index closed 1.77 percent lower at 10,094.71 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses stood at 537.5 billion yuan ($82.7 billion), down from 626.06 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

The media, environmental protection and military technology sectors all dropped. Only 15 stocks among the two bourses surged by the daily limit of 10 percent and nearly 200 stocks fell over 5 percent.

China's A-share market witnessed a moderate recovery in the past two weeks as more liquidity was pumped in, but concerns over turbulence in the financial market and China's subdued economic growth were also on the rise.

Government think tank the National Academy of Economic Strategy said on Monday that it estimated China's economic expansion in the first quarter of 2016 at around 6.7 percent, a further slowdown from the 6.8-percent growth seen in the previous quarter, due to slower industrial production and investments, and weak consumption and exports.

The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 2.14 percent to close at 2,152.55 points.