1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares end lower Wednesday

BEIJING, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed lower Wednesday, ending a two-day winning streak, led by poor performance of the electronic information and medical sectors.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended down 0.29 percent at 3,280.95 points while the Shenzhen Component Index closed 0.88 percent lower at 10,980.55 points.

The indices fluctuated in positive territory for most of the day before sell-off near market close dropped them into negative.

Combined turnover on the two bourses increased to 481.5 billion yuan (75.95 billion U.S. dollars) from 402.2 billion yuan the previous trading day.

Better-than-expected earnings failed to support share prices of many large-cap firms. Ping An Insurance, for example, saw its share price end 0.36 percent lower.

The company announced that its net profit rose 42.8 percent year on year in 2017 to 89.1 billion yuan, beating analyst expectations.

Medical companies failed to sustain the upward momentum seen in previous days. The share price of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical declined by 2 percent.

Gold-related shares registered widespread gains. Western Region Gold, for example, saw its share price go up by the daily limit of 10 percent.

The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 1.86 percent to close at 1,829.91 points. Enditem