Mainland shares firm but blue chips sink index

Most mainland shares rose yesterday, extending two days of sharp gains, but profit-taking in heavily weighted blue chips such as China Life Insurance and Sinopec pulled down the main index.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.53 percent at 2846.117 points after moving very narrowly. It surged 6.58 percent in the previous two days.

Turnover in Shanghai A shares remained moderate at 65 billion yuan against Monday's 69.5 billion yuan.