Mainland stock markets fall back following release of disappointing services data

Mainland exchanges fell on Wednesday, dragged down by financial and oil stocks amid new data showing a slowdown in the services sector.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.96 percent or 30.78 points to 3,174.13 points on Wednesday. The Shenzhen Component Index declined by 0.83 percent or 92.64 points to 11,116.55 points.

The CSI 300 Index of the biggest companies traded on the bourses in Shanghai and Shenzhen closed down by 1.04 percent at 3,401.77 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses was 534.40 billion yuan ($111,.3 billion), up from Tuesday's 517.22 billion yuan.

The HSBC/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for January fell to 51.8 from December's 53.4. It was the lowest level since July 2014.

Strong gains in financial and oil stocks ended a five-day losing streak for mainland markets on Tuesday, but the two sectors fell back on Wednesday. Banks, insurers and oil companies fell by around 2 percent on average.

Bank of China dropped by 3.50 percent to 4.13 yuan and PetroChina Co dipped by 2.40 percent to 11.41 yuan.

Brokerages fell by 1.5 percent on average. Guosen Securities led the sector's decline with a 4.16 percent drop to 20.50 yuan.

ChiNext, China's NASDAQ-style board for high-tech and fast-growing start-ups, rose by 0.39 percent or 6.83 points to 1,757.74 points on Wednesday.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index edged up by 0.51 percent to 24,679.76 points, with total turnover of HK$87.30 billion ($11.25 billion).