Chinese stocks closed lower Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.3 percent, at 3,161.67 points.

The smaller Shenzhen index closed 0.25 percent lower at 10,306.34 points.

Turnover on the two exchanges stood at 417.5 billion yuan (60.5 billion U.S. dollars), slightly up from 415.4 billion yuan the previous trading day.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, lost 0.51 percent to close at 1,951.68 points.

Aircraft manufacturing, oil and railways lost the most as investors cashed in on profits from a recent strong rally following media reports that state-owned China South Industries Group Corp., the country's leading military industry company, had completed initial plans for mixed-ownership reform.

The sub-indices for aircraft manufacturing and oil lost 1.97 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively, on Tuesday.

Bucking the trend, steel and coal stocks gained Tuesday. Sansteel Minguang, rose 7.9 percent to 13.8 yuan.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday that the producer price index (PPI), which measures costs for goods at the factory gate, rose 5.5 percent year on year last month, the highest in more than five years.

The consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, increased 2.1 percent from a year ago, slightly down from November's 2.3-percent rise. For the whole of 2016, the CPI rose 2 percent, well below the government's 3-percent annual target, NBS data showed.