China's main share index ended at a fresh two-week high on Tuesday, but pared some of its earlier gains as small-cap stocks weighed. Trading remained thin as investors were reluctant to stake out fresh positions ahead of the country's biggest holiday starting this week.
The blue-chip CSI300 index was unchanged at 3,364.45 points, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.2 percent to 3,142.55 points.
Sentiment was also affected by renewed debt worries after Beijing reported a significantly larger fiscal deficit in 2016. The fiscal deficit was larger than the government targeted, as the world's second-largest economy has relied on government spending to stabilise economic growth in the past year, raising concerns about China's mounting debt load. Most sectors remained largely unchanged. Gains were led by cyclical stocks, in particular banks and energy shares.
Tech-heavy start-up index ChiNext lost 1.4 percent, dragged down by its heavyweight component Beijing Originwater Technology, which tumbled 9 percent to hit a near 7-month low after it posted a profit forecast for 2016. The stock was down 12.6 percent year-to-date after losing 16.6 percent in 2016.