(Yicai   Global) March 16 -- China's mainland stock markets dropped in the  morning session amid a stream of new downbeat economic data involving  the past two months that have been shadowed by the new coronavirus  outbreak.

The  ChiNext Price Index, which tracks growth enterprises listed in  Shenzhen, performed the worst among the three major stock benchmarks as  it was going into lunchtime with a 2.14 percent decline to 1,987.03. The  Shenzhen Component Index slid 1.77 percent to 10,639.09. The Shanghai  Composite Index moved 0.55 percent down to 2,871.45.

Editor: Emmi Laine