China stocks close slightly higher Wednesday

Chinese shares closed slightly higher on Wednesday despite mediocre macro economic indicators for July, which dragged down the index by as much as 0.75 percent in the morning session.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.06 percent to end at 2,222.88 points, after hitting this year's highest level of 2,230.99 points around 10:30 a.m., when it began to fall based on a plunge in China's new yuan-denominated lending in July.

The Shenzhen Component Index edged up 0.17 percent to close at 7,980.49 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses expanded to 313.19 billion yuan (50.9 billion U.S. dollars) from 291.29 billion yuan the previous trading day.

China's new yuan-denominated lending stood at 385.2 billion yuan in July, which was down by 314.5 billion yuan from a year earlier and also much lower than the 1.08 trillion yuan of new loans in June, the central bank announced on Wednesday.

But the index managed to reclaim losses in the afternoon trading session, led by the gains of coal miners and steel makers.

The sub-index for the coal-mining sector advanced 2.27 percent in the day, with Wintime Energy and Guizhou Panjiang Refined Coal jumping by the daily limit of 10 percent.

The sub-index for steel makers gained 1.43 percent, with Guangzheng Group rising by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Meanwhile, the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, ended 0.87 percent lower at 1,384.31 points.