Mainland markets close lower on financial, coal sector losses

Stock markets on the Chinese mainland closed lower on Wednesday, dragged down by financial and coal companies.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.35 percent or 8.22 points to 2,318.30 points on Wednesday. The Shenzhen Component Index nudged down 0.52 percent or 42.91 points to 8,158.60 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses on Wednesday was 363.22 billion yuan ($59.26 billion), down from Tuesday's 373.60 billion yuan.

The decline came after Premier Li Ke-qiang on Tuesday said the country "cannot rely again on increasing the supply of currency to stimulate economic growth." Li also said China's broad M2 money supply grew 12.6 percent in August from a year earlier, falling further from a 13.5 percent growth in July, which was the lowest since 2008.

The news hit financial and coal stocks the hardest on Wednesday with all the listed banks and insurers seeing a decline.

Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co dropped 1.13 percent to 9.59 yuan and New China Life Insurance Co fell 2.21 percent to 24.78 yuan.

Guoyuan Securities Co dipped 2.06 percent to 12.85 yuan and Huatai Securities Co shed 1.66 percent to 8.89 yuan.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and start-ups listed in Shenzhen, inched up by 0.73 percent or 10.90 points to 1,504.91 points on Wednesday.