BEIJING, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed lower on Thursday as economic indicators suggest growth eased last month.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went down 0.38 percent to close at 3,371.43 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.19 percent lower at 11,070.49 points.
Combined turnover on the two bourses rose to 586.3 billion yuan (about 89.6 billion U.S. dollars) from 539.7 billion yuan the previous trading day.
Value-added industrial output grew 6 percent year on year in August, compared with a 6.4 percent increase in July, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Thursday.
Retail sales of consumer goods grew 10.1 percent year on year in August, 0.3 percentage points slower than that in July, said the NBS.
In January-August, fixed-asset investment (FAI) grew 7.8 percent year on year to 39.4 trillion yuan, according to the NBS.
The pace was slower than the 8.3-percent increase in the first seven months and failed to meet market expectations.
Despite the slowdown, China has continued to see structural improvement within FAI, according to Liu Aihua, a spokesperson with the NBS.
Rapid investment growth was seen in fields like high-tech, infrastructure and environmental protection, while transformation and upgrading in traditional industries has continued, Liu said.
The ChiNext Index, a NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.49 percent to close at 1,879.25 points.
