The Shanghai Composite Index ended at 3,899.724 points, slipping from an intra-day high of 3,906.761 but continuing Monday's technical rebound from last week's slide.

Analysts, however, did not expect the gains of the past few days to develop into a rally.

"The market has not completed the fall we saw last week. We may see the index return to the 3,500-level by the end of the week," said Zhou Lin, analyst at Huatai Securities.

Merchants Bank analyst Zhang Yong said the index would probably not rebound past its recent high of 4,113 points on June 28.

The benchmark index posted a 6.62 percent loss last week in one of its steepest weekly falls in the 16-year history of China's modern stock market. 

Chalco , one of the index's biggest movers, lifted the market as it climbed 3.73 percent to 23.94 yuan on news that it would take over sister firm Baotou Aluminium , which jumped its 10 percent limit to 29.41 yuan.

Gaining Shanghai stocks outnumbered losers by 636 to 234.

Turnover in Shanghai A shares was 84.7 billion yuan, down from Monday's already thin 88.6 billion yuan and the lowest in three months. Turnover has shrunk to only one-third of the daily record of 267.5 billion yuan hit on May 30.

IPOs, BONDS

The market remained under pressure from supply fears as several large companies, such as PetroChina and China Construction Bank , planned to list domestically.

In the latest of a flurry of public offers planned for the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, Shenhua Energy Co. Ltd. , China's top coal producer, said on Tuesday it was eyeing a Shanghai listing that could raise up to $6.3 billion -- set to become the mainland bourse's biggest IPO.

Some anld have no major impact on the stock market.

Xia Bin, head of financial research at the Development Research Centre, a cabinet think tank, said in remarks published on Tuesday that the bond plan should not deal a heavy blow to the market as it would not immediately cut liquidity in the economy.

Steel stocks outperformed the market in anticipation of strong interim earnings. Wuhan Steel , China's third-largest steel maker, rose 1.98 percent to 10.81 yuan.

Financial shares also rebounded from their recent lows.

Ping An Insurance rose 3.16 percent to 71.88 yuan on media reports that it would join China Construction Bank to set up an insurance joint venture.

Real estate stocks performed strongly on Tuesday as the yuan reached a post-revaluation high for a third day in a row, with China Vanke rising 4.1 percent to 19.41 yuan. A stronger yuan boosts the value of assets of domestic real estate companies. ($1 = 7.60 yuan)