China stocks fall on weak heavyweights

Chinese shares fell on Thursday as weak performance by heavyweights in the afternoon session dragged down indices.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went down 1.34 percent to finish at 2,187.67 points, and the Shenzhen Component Index slid 1.53 percent to close at 7,872.95 points.

Total turnover on the two exchanges narrowed slightly to 291.8 billion yuan (47.3 billion U.S. dollars) from 297.8 billion yuan the previous day.

Heavyweights, including coal and securities, fell across the board. Wintime Energy Co., Ltd. lost 6.9 percent to end the day at 4.18 yuan per share, while Changjiang Securities went down 4.9 percent to 6.02 yuan per share.

Bucking the trend, steel firms went up on Thursday. Inner Mongolia Baotou Iron & Steel Co. jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent to end at 5.05 yuan per share.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, shed 3.71 points, or 0.27 percent, to end at 1,362.03 points on Thursday.