Chinese shares end mixed on Wed

Chinese shares finished mixed on Wednesday with the key stock index down 0.63% as investors remained cautious after China Life<601628><2628>, the nation's biggest insurer, said it will largely reduce its stock holdings.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A shares and B shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, edged down 0.63% or 22.76 to 3,606.86 points after fluctuating between 3,698.33 and 3,591.11 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange managed to end 0.46% higher or 61.81 points to 13,489.09 points, after touching an intraday high of 13,800.20 points.

The combined turnover on the two bourses reduced slightly to RMB 104.7 billion from RMB 114.11 billion of the previous trading day.

China Life on Wednesday said it will focus more on bonds rather than the stock market this year. Its shares closed 2.07% lower yesterday to RMB 28.44.

PetroChina<601857><857>, the nation's biggest oil producer, continued to play as the market dragger. It lost 2.52% to close at RMB 18.53. The biggest market component has plunged more than half from its initial public price of RMB 48 on Nov. 5.

The financial sector performed mixed yesterday. China Pacific Insurance<601601> plunged 8.11% to RMB 27.98.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd<601398><1398>, the nation's biggest lender, was down 0.17% to RMB 5.71 while Bank of China<601988><3988>, the second-biggest, gained 0.20% to RMB 5.02.

As a whole, losers outweighed winners by 514 to 305 in Shanghai and 346 to 310 in Shenzhen.