Chinese shares close lower Monday

BEIJING - Major Chinese stock indices ended lower Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.24 percent, at 3,395.68 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.67 percent lower at 13,758.23 points.

The combined turnover of stocks at the two bourses was 1.03 trillion yuan ($150.8 billion), up from 947.85 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers 789 to 612 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,243 to 904 in Shenzhen.

Insurance companies led the losses, with shares of the leading China Life Insurance Company Limited falling 2.43 percent to 43.68 yuan apiece.

Stocks in the waterways transportation sector also suffered losses, as the share price of China Merchants Energy Shipping Co Ltd went down 2.27 percent to 6.46 yuan.

Bucking the downward trend, shares of liquor, beverages and tea makers notched gains, with the well-known Sichuan Swellfun Co Ltd climbing 3.5 percent to 76.09 yuan.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 1.07 percent to close at 2,728.31 points.