China shares turned slightly lower in early trade after a higher opening as coal firms and metal stocks continued their slide due to weakness in the commodity markets, dealers said.

Banks rose, providing some support to the market, while airlines and oil refiners were boosted by a continued slide in crude oil prices.

At 10:01 am, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 11.24 points or 0.42 pct at 2,679.51.

Light, sweet crude fell 2.24 usd to settle at 119.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after falling as low as 118 usd a barrel.

China Shenhua Energy, the country's largest coal producer, fell 1.73 pct to 27.90 yuan.

Angang Steel dropped 1.94 pct to 10.64 yuan.

China Eastern Airlines gained 0.76 pct to 7.91 yuan.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) added 1.34 pct to 11.37 yuan.

China Merchants Bank was up 1.64 pct at 24.10 yuan.

Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was flat at 5.05 yuan after winning approval from the Federal Reserve to open a branch in New York.

(1 usd = 6.8 yuan)