Internet stocks fall further as exchanges see continued retreat

Stock markets in the Chinese mainland continued to fall Wednesday, following a decline in the previous trading session, with sectors that had surged recently falling back.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell below the 2,200 mark by losing 27.55 points or 1.25 percent to close at 2,183.11 points on Wednesday. The Shenzhen Component Index fell by 106.68 points or 1.24 percent to 8,512.96 points.

Combined turnover on the two bourses on Wednesday was 263.8 billion yuan ($43.33 billion), down from Tuesday's 293.8 billion yuan.

As the government of Southwest China's Sichuan Province rolled out 2,336 major investment projects worth 4.26 billion yuan for 2013 and 2014 on Tuesday, stocks linked to Sichuan strongly gained, with Chengdu Road & Bridge Engineering Co rising by the daily limit of 10 percent to 5.91 yuan and Sichuan Road & Bridge also jumping 10 percent to 7.05 yuan.

Stocks in banks also bucked the trend, with Ping An Bank rising by 4.40 percent to 12.58 yuan on Wednesday. The mid-sized Shenzhen-based bank announced on Tuesday that the company's net profits increased 19.82 percent year-on-year in the third quarter to 4.2 billion yuan.

However, 23 stocks in the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges dropped by the 10 percent daily limit, while stocks in 322 companies declined more than 5 percent.

Shares in Internet-related firms continued to fall on Wednesday. Leshi Internet Info & Tech Corp, which dropped by 10 percent in the previous session, fell by another 10 percent to 41.55 yuan on Wednesday. Shanghai Ganglian E-Commerce Holdings also fell 6.52 percent to 29.55 yuan.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups listed in Shenzhen, fell by 39.24 points or 2.91 percent from Tuesday to end at 1,311.23 points on Wednesday, following a 3.60 percent fall in the previous session.