The mainland stocks slid 2.94 percent in heavy trade yesterday for their second-biggest drop in six weeks, led by energy and resource shares that pulled back after recent gains.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 2461.346 points, after cracking through support at the psychologically key 2500 point level that had held in recent sessions.

Turnover in Shanghai A shares rose to 177.1 billion yuan, the third heaviest this year, from Tuesday's 154.6 billion yuan.