Chinese shares retreat on Tuesday

Chinese stocks continued to tumble on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.25 percent closing at 3,316.7 points.

The smaller Shenzhen index edged down 0.15 percent to close at 11,288.14 points, Xinhua news agency reported.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, closed 0.11 percent lower at 2,429.27 points.

Total turnover on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses shrank to 629.5 billion yuan (about $99.4 billion) from 744.1 billion yuan in the previous trading day.

A reform plan on rural areas in China was released on Monday, pushing up stock prices in the agriculture sector.

Fishery company Zoneco Group, feed producer Shenzhen Jinxinnong Feed Co., and agricultural tech firm Wanxiang Doneed Co. saw their prices jump by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Shares related to restaurants, hotels, and medical equipment led the losses.

The insider trading investigation of hedge fund manager Xu Xiang continued to weigh down shares that Xu's company favoured.

Deluxe Family Co., in which Xu's Zexi Investment has large holdings, plunged by the daily limit of 10 percent for the second consecutive day.