Chinese shares resume downturn Monday

An investor looks through stock information at a trading hall in Shanghai, east China, Feb. 29, 2016. Chinese shares dived below the 2,700-point mark on Monday, ending February at their lowest ebb in the month. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged 2.86 percent to close at 2,687.98 points while the smaller Shenzhen index declined 4.98 percent to end the day at 9,097.36 points. (Xinhua/Zhuang Yi)

BEIJING, Feb. 29 -- Chinese shares dived below the 2,700-point mark on Monday, ending February at their lowest ebb in the month.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index plunged 2.86 percent to close at 2,687.98 points while the smaller Shenzhen index declined 4.98 percent to end the day at 9,097.36 points.

The ChiNext Index, the NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises nose-dived 6.69 percent at 1,880.15 points.

The ChiNext Index resumed its familiar role as the biggest loser in Monday's plunge, and hit its lowest point since Sept. 2015.

Total turnover on the two bourses stood at 461.77 billion yuan (70.55 billion U.S. dollars), continuing to wane from Friday's 486.4 billion yuan.

Over 500 stocks declined by the daily limit of 10 percent, and only 124 stocks closed positive on Monday.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 933 to 52 in Shanghai and 1,473 to 70 in Shenzhen.

The losses were seen across the board, with the sub-indexes related to textiles, motorcycles and medical instruments suffering the most in Monday's retreat. These had all declined over 8 percent at closing.

The banking and real estate sectors performed strongly during the morning session, but failed to lift the broader indices, which were pressured by the under-performing small-cap stocks.

The market opened lower on Monday morning, followed by a sudden and steep drop to plunge below the 2,700-point mark, and was mired in negative territory during the rest of the day.

Soaring home prices also prompted many securities holders to withdraw money from the stocks market and invest it in real estate.