Shanghai's benchmark stock index stocks ended slightly lower yesterday over export concerns which took a toll on several blue chips.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.69 percent to close at 2535.28. Turnover was 45.3 billion yuan (US$6.6 billion), the lowest level in more than two years as market sentiment remained weak with the imminent initial public offering of the Agricultural Bank of China.

China's announcement that it would push for a more flexible yuan may hurt exporters and raised worries over economic recovery.

"It's essential for exporters to cut costs to keep their share in the global trade and I'm not optimistic about exports this year," Yu Jianhua, director general of Ministry of Commerce, said at the G20 meetings in Toronto over the weekend.

ABC will price its IPO shares at 2.52 yuan to 2.68 yuan apiece in Shanghai, Bloomberg cited people with knowledge of the matter. Last week it priced its Hong Kong IPO shares at HK$2.88 (37 US cents) to HK$3.48 apiece.

"The surrounding markets were still sluggish as the G20 summit didn't provide any positive signals to stimulate investors in the local market and the shrinking turnover is also not likely to propel the index strongly," Southwest Securities' Zhang Gang said.

Blue chips were generally flat. Aluminum Corp of China dipped 0.1 percent to 9.95 yuan, Jiangxi Copper Co lost 0.47 percent to 27.44 yuan and Datong Coal Industry tumbled 6.08 percent to 30.87 yuan.

PetroChina eased 0.75 percent to 10.65 yuan. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Asia's largest refiner and also known as Sinopec, fell 1.32 percent to 8.24 yuan.

Banks were mixed after Liu Mingkang, chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, said at the weekend that the average capital adequacy ratio of Chinese banks was above standard.

China Construction Bank lost 0.20 percent to 4.91 yuan. China Merchants Bank added 0.97 percent to 13.52 yuan.