Chinese shares close lower Monday

BEIJING, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks fell on index.html" target="_blank">index.html" target="_blank">Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite index.html" target="_blank">index down 1.97 index.html" target="_blank">index.html" target="_blank">percent, closing at 3,043.03. The Shenzhen Component index.html" target="_blank">index closed 1.80 index.html" target="_blank">index.html" target="_blank">percent lower at 9,701.70.

Combined trading volume on the two index.html" target="_blank">indexes increased to 819.4 billion yuan (around 122.1 billion U.S. dollars), from 801.9 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 1,039 to 394 on the Shanghai bourse, and 1,422 to 655 in Shenzhen.

Shares in the financial and cement sectors were sluggish, with the Shaanxi International Trust Co. Ltd. shares dropping 7.19 index.html" target="_blank">index.html" target="_blank">percent to close at 5.29 yuan apiece.

Bucking the trend, stocks of the shipbuilding industry saw notable growth. For example, CSSC Science Technology Co. Ltd shares increased by the daily limit of 10 index.html" target="_blank">index.html" target="_blank">percent to 15.70 yuan per share.

The ChiNext index.html" target="_blank">index, China's NASDAQ-style board, lost 1.48 index.html" target="_blank">index.html" target="_blank">percent to close at 1,668.84.