1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares close lower Tuesday

BEIJING, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed lower Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edging down 0.18 percent to 3,303.68 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.45 percent lower at 10,854.75 points. The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 2.18 percent to close at 1,758.59 points.

Most shares fell on the two bourses, with losers outnumbering gainers 1,106 to 186 in Shanghai and 1,663 to 227 in Shenzhen.

Combined turnover on the two bourses expanded to 482.7 billion yuan (about 73.1 billion U.S. dollars) from 407.3 billion yuan the previous trading day.

The market sentiment was weighed down as many major shareholders of listed firms announced plans to cut their stakes in the companies, while a large volume of lock-up shares will become eligible for trading in the next two months, which will drain liquidity, analysts said.

Banks, brokerages and insurers led the gains. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the country's largest lender, rose 1.87 percent to 6 yuan per share. Leading broker Citic Securities increased 1.74 percent to 19.27 yuan. Ping An Insurance climbed 2.6 percent to 71.2 yuan. Enditem