Chinese stocks opened lower on Wednesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.49 percent, at 2,993.01 points.

 
The smaller Shenzhen index opened 0.64 percent lower at 10,434.36 points, Xinhua news agency reported.
 
The ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.85 percent to open at 2,222.6 points.