BEIJING, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed lower Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.57 percent to end at 3,291.38.
The Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.91 percent lower at 11,139.63.
Combined turnover on the two bourses shrank to 445.8 billion yuan (about 70.5 billion U.S. dollars), down from 502.4 billion yuan the previous trading day.
MSCI Inc., a leading provider of research-based indexes and analytics, announced Wednesday the launch of 12 new indexes that will expand MSCI's China's index offering to prepare global investors for the next step of China's A inclusion process.
Bucking the losing trend, the cement industry rose across the board on news of rising prices. Shares of Conch Group surged 6.64 percent to end at 12.52 yuan, while Huaxin cement rose 7.62 percent to close at 15.25 yuan.
Shares related to "unicorn" companies -- startups valued at more than 1 billion U.S. dollars -- continued to rise, over expectations that regulators will fast-track new listings by unicorn companies to invigorate the country's capital market and foster the new economy.
The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style enterprises, lost 1.68 percent to close at 1,841.29 Wednesday.
