Chinese shares continued to slip Monday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 1.29 percent to close at 2,705.16 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index shed 2.08 percent to close at 8,422.84 points.

More than 2,700 stocks fell on the two bourses, with combined turnover at 291.1 billion yuan (about 42.6 billion U.S. dollars), up from 284.8 billion yuan the previous trading day.

The ChiNext Index, China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, was down 2.75 percent to close at 1,440.8 points.

Food companies were among the heaviest losers. Shares of Foshan Haitian Flavoring and Food slumped 6.26 percent, while shares of Xinjiang Tianrun Dairy lost 5.01 percent.

Medical firms also suffered, with Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine shares plunging 6.98 percent and Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical shares dropping by the daily limit of 10 percent.

Banks bucked the downward trend. China Merchants Bank shares rose 1.28 percent, while Jiangsu Wujiang Rural Commercial Bank shares climbed 3.47 percent.