1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares close lower Monday

Chinese shares closed markedly lower on Monday, retreating from morning gains encouraged by warming factory profit data released over the weekend.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (SCI) lost 0.73 percent to finish at 2,957.82 points, and the smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.61 percent lower at 10,276.84 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses rose to 626.06 billion yuan (95.97 billion U.S. dollars), up from 550 billion yuan seen on the previous trading day.

The indices grew briskly in the morning session due to rising market sentiment on improved industrial performance in the past two months, with the SCI, at one point, hitting 3,008.17.

Profits of China's major industrial firms rose 4.8 percent year on year in the January-February period, reversing last year's downward trend, the statistics authorities said on Sunday.

However, the afternoon session was affected by the falling financial sector.

Brokerages led the decline as nearly all dropped, with many tumbling by more than 2 percent. CITIC Securities shed 2.4 percent to close at 17.07 yuan per share.

China's A-share market witnessed a moderate recovery in the past two weeks with more liquidity pumped in, but concerns over risks were also on the rise.

The securities watchdog said Friday that it still maintained tough stance on market irregularities, such as illicit financing in stock trading. It has been vigilant against illegal leveraged trading since the market rout last year, as the activity was considered a major cause of the stormy market and following crash.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.74 percent to close at 2,199.68 points. Endi