Mainland markets buoyed by gains for financial stocks

Stock markets in the Chinese mainland closed up Tuesday with a strong performance by financial stocks, but a slide in technology stocks limited the upward movement.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was up by 7.01 points or 0.34 percent to 2,072.83 points on Tuesday. The Shenzhen Component Index inched up by 37.62 points or 0.51 percent to close at 7,391.22 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses on Tuesday was 175.63 billion yuan ($28.17 billion), slightly up from Monday's 175.45 billion yuan.

While banks, brokerages and stocks linked to the Shanghai free trade zone saw gains on Tuesday, technology and healthcare firms fell.

China CITIC Bank Corp rose by 4.26 percent to 4.90 yuan and Ping An Bank Co rose by 3.46 percent to 11.06 yuan on Tuesday. The overall banking sector was up 1.89 percent, the biggest gainer on Tuesday.

Securities firms, which saw a fall of almost 3 percent in the previous trading session, recovered on Tuesday. Changjiang Securities Company jumped by 5.48 percent to 9.62 yuan and CITIC Securities Co was up by 0.79 percent to 11.49 yuan.

On Monday, the China Securities Regulatory Commission unveiled another batch of draft IPO prospectuses for 18 Chinese firms to get listed, after having released draft IPO prospectuses for 28 firms on Saturday, raising concerns among investors that a resumption of listings would drain funding away from existing stocks.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups listed in Shenzhen, was hit hard by the news of a possible resumption of IPOs. The index dropped by 27.66 points or 2.03 percent to 1,336.19 points on Tuesday.