Chinese equities fell for a second day Tuesday with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dropping below the psychologically-important 3,000-point level.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.69 percent, or 20.82 points, to close at 2,982.58 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index edged down 1.18 percent, or 144.34 points, to finish at 12,069.21 points.

Combined turnover expanded to 159.66 billion yuan (23.38 billion U.S. dollars) Tuesday from 130.61 billion yuan on Monday.

Gainers outnumbered losers by 529 to 340 in Shanghai and 491 to 382 in Shenzhen.

Financial shares led the losses, after the country's second largest insurer, Ping An, said in a statement Monday night that 859.82 million shares held by its three largest shareholders would become tradable from March 1 and that they are set to sell the shares over next five years.

Ping An plunged 8.88 percent to 44.72 yuan per share, while its rival China Life, the country's largest insurer, shed 3.14 percent to 26.83 yuan per share.

The property sector continued its weak run on jitters over the recent credit tightening policy moves by China's central bank.

The People's Bank of China, the country's central bank, announced on Feb. 12, the last trading day before the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, it would raise the deposit reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for Chinese financial institutions by 0.5 percentage points from Feb. 25 this year.

China Vanke Co. Ltd., the country's largest listed real estate firm, lost 1.4 percent to close at 9.13 yuan per share, while China Merchants Property Development, a leading property developer, lost 2.5 percent to finish at 21.84 yuan per share.

Wei Guixiang, head of the Department of Urban Social and Economic Survey at China's National Bureau of Statistics, said Monday China's housing demand is still strong, but that the rate of price increase might slow due to various government measures.

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