Chinese stocks surrendered early gains and ended almost flat on Wednesday, as fresh economic data dented investor confidence and put downward pressure on main share indexes.

Data published after the midday trading break showed that growth in China’s real estate investment slowed slightly to 10.4 per cent in the first two months of 2015 from a year earlier amid a glut of housing supply, underscoring risks to the government’s new 7 per cent economic growth target.

Meanwhile, China’s power generation, a barometer of economic activity, rose just 1.9 per cent during January-February from the same period last year, as weaker industrial growth and a milder winter curbed demand.

The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.1 per cent to 3,524.65, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 per cent to 3,290.90 points, helped by rises in banking stocks.

Among the most active stocks in Shanghai were Bank of China , up 2.0 per cent at 4.01 yuan; Agricultural Bank of China, up 0.6 per cent at 3.22 yuan; and Industrial Bank, up 2.3 per cent at 14.57 yuan.

In Shenzhen, TCL Corp, down 2.3 per cent at 5.17 yuan; BOE Technology, down 1.6 per cent at 3.12 yuan; and Dongxu Optoelec, up 2.3 per cent at 10.94 yuan, were among the most actively traded.

Total volume of A shares traded in Shanghai was 28.2 billion shares, while Shenzhen volume was 19.3 billion shares.

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