Chinese shares close mixed - March 16

BEIJING - Chinese shares closed mixed Wednesday with the Shanghai Composite Index ending higher on fresh government assurance that China's economy has more hopes than difficulties.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2,870.43 points, up 0.21 percent while the smaller Shenzhen index closed 1.10 percent lower at 9,469.03 points.

The ChiNext Index, the NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, ended 0.97 percent lower to close at 1,977.54 points.

Total turnover on the two bourses shrank to 423.2 billion yuan ($65 billion) from Tuesday's 427.9 billion yuan.

Finance shares led indexes higher boosted by more government assurance as China's annual legislative session ended on Wednesday.

Premier Li Keqiang said Wednesday that China's economy will not suffer a hard landing.

"There are both difficulties and hopes for China's economy. But given the underlying trend and fundamentals, there are more hopes than difficulties," Li said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Tuesday suggested that the launch of a "strategic emerging board" be deleted from the draft 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020), which was reviewed at the National People's Congress (NPC) annual session.

The idea to launch a strategic emerging board was first floated by the CSRC last June to complement Shenzhen's existing ChiNext board.

Wang Hanfeng, chief analyst of China International Capital Corp Ltd (CICC), said the move indicates the authorities' practical attitude to stabilize the capital market.