BEIJING, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed lower on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 1.74 percent, at 2,978.12 points.
The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.97 percent lower at 9,722.79 points.
The combined trading volume of stocks in the two indexes expanded to 585.9 billion yuan (about 82.84 billion U.S. dollars) from 581.3 billion yuan the previous trading day.
Most stocks declined, with losers outnumbering gainers by 1,373 to 144 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,945 to 239 in Shenzhen.
Sci-tech companies in the sectors of electronics, software and communications led the losses.
Bucking the trend, companies related to public affairs and natural gas were among the gainers.
The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 2.12 percent to close at 1,677.99 points.
