(Yicai Global) July 17 -- Investor's attempts to drive China's mainland stock markets to stem the rout of yesterday's panic selling proved unavailing this morning as the market's major indexes failed to sustain early gains.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.51 percent weaker at 3,193.82 when the lunch bell rang, after it had been up as much as 1.4 percent earlier in the morning.

The Shenzhen Component Index was down 0.25 percent at 12,963.66. The ChiNext Price Index, which tracks growth enterprises listed in Shenzhen, slipped 0.41 percent to 2,635.42. Both Shenzhen indexes had gained at least 2.5 percent intraday.

The three major mainland stock benchmarks slumped more than 4 percent yesterday after a wave of mostly better than expected new economic data nevertheless failed to attract follow-up buying, which precipitated a mass sell-off to preserve plump gains wrung out over the past few months.

Chinese stock markets have held to an upward arc since the latter part of March as the nation has gradually emerged from under the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the major indexes recently accelerating their rises, up at least 15 percent in the first two weeks of this month. Investor expectations for idealized economic data may have reached unrealistically high levels and, though the government released generally upbeat figures, the investing community as a whole was apparently dissatisfied nonetheless.

Editor: Ben Armour