BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed lower Wednesday, with medical firms and oil companies slumping.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went down 1.05 percent to 2,549.56 points. The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.48 percent lower at 7,418.69 points.
The combined turnover of stocks in the two bourses stood at 217.1 billion yuan (about 31.5 billion U.S. dollars), down from 230 billion yuan the previous trading day.
Medical firms led the decline. Top Choice Medical Investment plunged 7.91 percent, while Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) shed 5.56 percent.
Oil producers also posted heavy losses, with Hy Energy Group falling 5.92 percent and Sinopec Shandong Taishan Petroleum dropping 3.37 percent.
The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 1.9 percent to close at 1,268.81 points Wednesday.
