At close of trade, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.67%, or 21.87 points, to 3,226.82. The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China's second exchange, dropped 0.95%, or 19.91 points, to 2,076.51. The blue-chip CSI300 index dropped 0.54%, or 21.80 points, to 3,986.89.
China kept its central bank governor and finance minister in their posts on Sunday, toward the end of the week-long session of the National People's Congress (NPC), where Xi Jinping began his third five-year term as Chinese president. Li Qiang, a longtime Xi confidant, was promoted to premier to steer the economy, which grew just 3% last year.
A batch of 200 billion yuan ($29.11 billion) worth of medium-term lending facility (MLF) is due to expire on Wednesday and markets widely believe the central bank would leave the policy rate unchanged during the rollover.
CURRENCY NEWS: China's yuan depreciated against the dollar on Tuesday, despite stronger mid-point fixing by China's central bank. Prior to market opening, the People's Bank of China set the midpoint rate CNY=PBOC at 6.8949 per dollar, 426 pips or 0.62% firmer than the previous fix 6.9375. In the spot market, the yuan CNY=CFXS opened at 6.8549 per dollar and was changing hands at 6.8715 at midday, 240 pips softer than the previous late session close.
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