BEIJING - Major Chinese stock indices ended lower Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.83 percent, at 2,987.93 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 3.02 percent lower at 11,497.55 points.

The combined turnover of stocks covered by the two indices stood at 1.31 trillion yuan (about US$187.19 billion), shrinking from 1.42 trillion yuan the previous trading day.

Losers outnumbered gainers by 814 to 639 on the Shanghai bourse and 1,444 to 707 in Shenzhen.

Stocks related to the civil engineering construction led the gains, with shares of Metallurgical Corporation of China Ltd. climbing by 10.081 percent to 2.73 yuan per share.

Shares in the computer application services sector led the losses.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 4.66 percent to close at 2,180.7 points.