Chinese stocks fell on the last trading day of March despite the country's manufacturing and non-manufacturing purchasing managers' indices expanding during the month.

The Shanghai Composite Index, the main gauge of Chinese stocks, fell 0.46% or by 15.56 points to 3,335.75. The Shenzhen Component Index declined 0.97% or by 103 points to 10,504.33.

China's manufacturing purchasing manager's index reached 50.5 in March, up 0.3 percentage points from February, aligned with analysts' expectations and the highest in 12 months.

Large businesses saw their PMI shrink 1.3 points to 51.2, while that of medium-sized businesses remained in contractionary territory at 49.9 and of small enterprises at 49.6.

Non-manufacturing business activity expanded to 50.8, up 0.4 points from February, with the construction sector's index jumping 0.7 points to 53.4 and that of the service sector rising 0.3 to 50.3 points.

The expansions have been seen as a reprieve from the threats of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, Reuters reported Monday.

China's four biggest state-owned lenders are also preparing to raise an aggregate of 520 billion yuan in private placements from investors.

Bank of China (SHA:601988, HKG:3988) intends to raise up to 165 billion yuan, while China Construction Bank or CCB (SHA:601939, HKG:0939) plans to raise up to 105 billion yuan.

Bank of Communications (SHA:601328, HKG:3328) also intends to sell shares of up to 120 billion yuan, while Postal Savings Bank of China (SHA:601658, HKG:1658) also plans to raise up to 130 billion yuan.

CCB's Shanghai shares finished 4% higher following its planned issuance as well as an announcement by Chief Executive Officer Zhang Yi that it has started using a financial model based on Chinese artificial intelligence startup DeepSeek.

Bank of China's Shanghai stock closed 2% higher.