Chinese shares continued their losing streak on Tuesday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index diving more than 4 percent in the afternoon session.

    As of 2:15 p.m., only 33 shares were rising while 885 shares were losing in Shanghai, and 1,366 losers outnumbered the 32 winners in Shenzhen.

    Chinese stocks opened lower on Tuesday with the Shanghai index down 2.28 percent at 3,043.80 points.

    The Shenzhen Component Index opened 2.5 percent lower at 9,533.45 points. The ChiNext Index, tracking China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, opened 3.3 percent lower at 1,843.23 points.

    The shares have slumped for two days in a row after weak economic data released over the weekend.

    China's value-added industrial output expanded 6.1 percent year on year in August, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Sunday. The growth rate was up slightly from 6 percent in July, but still fell short of market expectations.

    Fixed-asset investment grew 10.9 percent year on year in the first eight months, retreating from the 11.2-percent growth registered in the first seven months, NBS data showed.