Bears tighten their grip on stock markets as recovery chances take a hit

Fear seems to be returning to the Chinese equity market after another sharp fall in stock indexes on Wednesday, dimming investors' hope for a sustained recovery from the recent market rout.

Analysts warned that it may be a long time before the market rebounds to the previous high, as the illegal leveraged funds have been wiped out and investors with cash are adopting a wait-and-see approach.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index on Wednesday sank by 3.03 percent to close at 3,805.7 points, despite the surge in blue-chip energy and financial stocks. The startup index ChiNext in Shenzhen suffered an even heavier loss of 4.99 percent.