1st LD-Writethru: Chinese shares close lower Thursday

BEIJING, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 1.74 percent to 3,005.39 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index closed 1.65 percent lower at 9,655.09 points.

The combined turnover of stocks covered by the two indices totaled 812.7 billion yuan (about 113.19 billion U.S. dollars), up from 766.6 billion yuan on the previous trading day.