Weak property data weighs on mainland stock markets

Stock markets in the Chinese mainland continued to fall for a second day on Wednesday amid data signaling slowdown in the country's property market.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index inched down by 11.18 points or 0.54 percent to 2,055.52 points on Wednesday.

The Shenzhen Component Index nudged down by 33.98 points or 0.46 percent to 7,297.40 points.

The combined turnover on the two bourses on Wednesday was 168.58 billion yuan ($27.05 billion), down from Tuesday's 178.54 billion yuan.

Wednesday's decline came after data on the country's housing prices in May signaled a slowdown in the real estate market.

Home prices in 35 out of 70 Chinese cities tracked by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) witnessed a monthly drop in May, compared with 8 cities in April, while only 15 cities saw a monthly rise in prices last month, down from 44 cities in April, according to the NBS.

The media, logistics, oil, financial and real estate sectors all saw a decline on Wednesday.

China Vanke fell by 0.25 percent to 8.10 yuan and Poly Real Estate Group Co dropped by 1.26 percent to 5.48 yuan.

Guoyuan Securities Co led the drop in the brokerage sector in which all companies saw a decline. The brokerage company fell by 1.13 percent to 9.62 yuan.

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinospec) shed 1.16 percent to 5.12 yuan and Leshi Internet Info & Tech Corp dropped by 4.74 percent to 46.01 yuan on Wednesday.

Meanwhile auto and nonferrous companies bucked the trend on Wednesday. Three stocks in the nonferrous sector including Jinzhou New China Dragon Molybdenum jumped by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Shenyang Jinbei Automotive Co soared by the daily limit of 10 percent to 2.98 yuan on Wednesday.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups listed in Shenzhen, slid by 13.44 points or 0.98 percent at close to 1,363.99 points on Wednesday.