BEIJING, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks extended their losses on Thursday, dragged down by weak liquor makers and pharmaceutical companies.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went down 0.48 percent to end at 3,154.28 points, while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.62 percent lower at 10,635.5 points.
Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to 357.2 billion yuan (about 56.11 billion U.S. dollars), largely down from 401.9 billion yuan on the previous trading day.
Stocks of liquor makers and pharmaceutical companies were particularly sluggish as investors took profits from previous strong gains.
Kweichow Moutai, China's leading liquor brand, dropped 0.97 percent to 727.38 yuan, while Sichuan Swellfun lost 4.68 percent to 47.45 yuan.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical declined 2.64 percent to 42.81 yuan, while SonoScape Medical slumped 7.88 percent to 37.41 yuan.
Bucking the trend, oil and petrochemical shares rose on Thursday. China Petroleum Engineering gained by the daily limit of 10 percent to 4.79 yuan, and oil giant PetroChina was up 0.25 percent to 7.91 yuan.
The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, went down 0.84 percent to close at 1,831.2 points Thursday.
